LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Gl^p- (!Dpij;MiiT|o, 

IMTEI) STATES OF AMERICA. 



Garfield's Place in Histoi^y 



AN ESSAY 



BY ^--' 

HENRY C. PEDDER 



" Jle hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
Do plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against 
The deep damnation of his taking-off."— SHAKESPEARE. 

*' In the wreck of noble lives 

Something immortal still survives."— LONGFELLOW. 

" Great men are like fire pillars in this dark pilgrimage of mankind ; they stand as heavenly- 
signs, ever-living witnesses of what has been, prophetic tokens of what may still be, the re- 
vealed, embodied possibilities of human nature."— CARLYLE. 



a.a.^i'k hi 




NEW YORK 

G. p. Putnam's sons 

27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET 
1882 






Copyright by 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

18S2 



Press 0/ 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

AV«. Vori 



ERRATUM. 

Pao-e 68, line 21, for ''wind'' read ''mind.' 



PHIL A DELPHI A , 

January i8, 18S2. 

G£A'TLFM£JV.' 

I have read with very great interest and pleasure the 
sheets of Mr. Pedders Essay on " Garfield's Place in 
History " which you kindly sent jne. 

Of course we are yet too near our great loss to treat 
the subject with entire impartiality and adequacy, but Mr. 
Pedders contribution to it is certainly very suggestive, and 
displays a most judicious Judgment alike in his selections 
and in his comments. 

Sincerely yours, 

WA YNE MAC VEAGH. 

To G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. 



Ju gttcmoviam 

JAMES A. GARFIELD 



" Strangulatus pro Republicd " 



GARFIELD'S PLACE IN HISTORY. 



IN the universe of God there are no acci- 
dents. From the fall of a sparrow to the 
fall of an empire, or the sweep of a planet, all 
is according to Divine Providence, whose laws 
are everlasting. It was no accident which gave 
to his country the patriot whom we now honor. 
It was no accident which snatched this patriot 
so suddenly and cruelly from his sublime duties." 
Such were the words of the late Charles Sum- 
ner, in his eulogy of Lincoln delivered in Boston 
soon after the close of the war. 

They were true then, and they are true now. 
Applied to the assassination of Lincoln they had 
a meaning which the illustrious orator dwelt 
upon with his accustomed force and fertility of 
illustration. Applied to the assassination of Gar- 
field they possess a meaning even deeper and 



GARFIELD'S PLACE 



more enduring. In both instances we are 
brought face to face with an overwhelmino- 
grief and a tremendous shock to the nation's 
consciousness. In both instances we are sud- 
denly brought to a reaHzation of certain deep 
feehngs which undedie the popular mind and 
heart. But while there is a resemblance 
between the conditions brought about by- 
Lincoln's assassination and that of Garfield, 
there is also a difference which must not be 
overlooked. At the time of Lincoln's death 
the country was plunged in the depths of a fear- 
ful conflict, and the din of strife resounded 
throughout the land. We were struedin^T for 
our very existence as a nation, and all questions 
were looked at through the excitement of the 
hour. As the nation groaned in travail before 
its new birth, all was turmoil, anxious suspense, 
and intense uneasiness. It was a period of 
strong passions and sharp antagonisms, accom- 
panied by a strong sense of patriotism and self- 
sacrifice. 

Realizing with mingled feelings of humili- 
ation and horror the enormity of the crime 
which had been committed, and bv means 



IN HISTORY. 3 

of which the chosen head of the nation had 
been stricken down when we most needed his 
firm hand to guide us through the disturbed 
and angry sea of sectional feehng and popular 
excitement, we swore anew to preserve the 
Union in all its integrity as one and indivisible. 
Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to say that by 
the grave of the martyred Lincoln this nation 
swore as it had never sworn before to avenge 
its wrongs and conquer its enemies, even 
though unfortunately those enemies happened 
to be of its own household. The arm of the 
Confederacy had been broken by Lee's sur- 
render, but the popular mind looked with in- 
diofnant horror on the condition of things which 
had rendered the assassination of Lincoln 
possible. 

Strong men wept, the nation mourned, and 
everywhere the voice of lamentation was 
heard throughout the land. It was indeed a 
period of darkness such as has rarely come to 
any nation ; and even now, as we look back 
upon the scenes of sixteen years ago, we cannot 
help feeling the weight of the sadness which 
then brought the nation to its knees for Divine 



4 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

aid to bear the burden which an inscrutable 
Providence had laid upon it. Greater dangers 
we had previously passed safely through, but 
this tremendous shock was something so en- 
tirely new, so unlike any thing in our previous 
history, that it is not to be wondered at that 
men's hearts failed them, and horror and excite- 
ment reigned supreme. Strange indeed would 
it have been had it not been so. 

Such are the character of our institutions and 
the quality of our national life, that a shock of 
this kind comes to us very much after the man- 
ner of a sudden and unexpected earthquake, 
destroying in an instant our hopes, and levelling 
our bright visions to the dust. Had all our 
labor, all our struijorles and our sacrifices been 
in vain ? 1 lad we conquered but to find that 
in the moment of victory we had become the 
victims of frenzy and diabolism ? 

In that dark hour it almost seemed so. And 
yet the nation was equal to the crisis. It was a 
time of deep anxiety and strong feeling. But 
from the grave of the martyred President there 
arose a power which strengthened the spirit of 
patriotism, and enlarged the view ot our respon- 



IN HISTORY. 5 

sibilities. Coming into power at a time when 
the foundations of the great deep were broken 
up, and men turned for protection to miHtary 
power, and passing away, through the hand of 
an assassin, in the meridian of his greatness, 
there is a tragic pathos connected with Lincoln's 
memory which will always give him a prominent 
place in the hearts of his countrymen. If ever 
a man died for his country, Lincoln did ; and in 
the light of history he ought to command a po- 
sition nearly equal to that of Washington. In- 
deed, in an important sense the one is the 
complement of the other. Each was the head 
of the Republic during a period of surpassing 
trial ; and each thought only of the public good, 
simply, purely, constandy, so that single-hearted 
devotion to country will always find a synonym 
in their names. Each was the nation's chief 
during a time of successful war. Each was the 
representative of his country at a great epoch 
of history. The war conducted by Washington 
was unlike the war conducted by Lincoln, as 
the peace which crowned the one was unlike 
the peace which began to smile upon the other. 
The two wars did not differ in the scale of oper- 



GARFIELD'S PLACE 



ations and in the tramp of mustered hosts, more 
than in the ideas involved. The first was for 
national independence ; the second was to make 
the R epublic one and indivisible, on the indestruc- 
tible foundations of liberty and equality. The 
first cut the connection with the mother country, 
and opened the way to the duties and advan- 
tages of popular government. The second per- 
formed the original promises of that declaration 
which our fathers took upon their lips when 
they became a nation. In the relation of cause 
and effect the first was the natural precursor of 
the second. National independence was the 
first epoch in our history, and such was its im- 
portance, that Lafayette boasted to the First 
Consul of France that although " its batdes 
were but skirmishes they decided the fate of the 
world." The war for the preservation of the 
Union and the establishment of liberty and 
equality on indestructible bases was the second 
epoch in our history, and such was its impor- 
tance, that the civilized world has looked ever 
since with amazement and admiration at the 
enduring qualities of our form of government. 
It was bv no accident therefore that these two 



IN HISTORY. 7 

great men became the representatives of their 
country at these two different epochs, so aHke 
in peril, and yet so unhke in the principles in- 
volved. Washington was the natural repre- 
sentative of national independence. Lincoln 
was the natural representative of national unity, 
liberty, and equality. Without Washington, 
Lincoln would have had no work to do, no 
mission to accomplish. Without Lincoln, Wash- 
ington would have been incomplete and imper- 
fect. And thus it is that the two men stand, in 
the order of God's Providence, as the comple- 
ments of each other. Casting a retrospective 
glance over the history of our country, it is pro- 
foundly interesting to notice how the life-work 
of the one seems to run naturally into the life- 
work of the other, until we almost seem to feel 
the warm patriotic spirit of Washington speak- 
ing to us through the heroic manliness of 
Lincoln. The world moves, empires and dy- 
nasties rise and fall, ages change, minds oscil- 
late, and nations pass away. But God still 
rules the universe, and in the mighty sweep of 
His everlasting laws orders all events to suit 
His Infinite purposes. In all respects the reign 
of law is supreme. 



8 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

And the same principle prevails in the direc- 
tion of that march of events which has culminated 
in the conditions which form the subject of this 
essay. Closely related in the sequence of his- 
torical events to his two illustrious predecessors, 
to whom I have alluded, Garfield also comes be- 
fore us as a central fiofure around which erand 
purposes revolve, and in whom the works done 
by Washington and Lincoln largely centre. In 
his case there were no vital questions at issue, 
no strong, deep passions agitating the foundations 
of society. But the connection between his ad- 
ministration and those of Washinofton and Lin- 
coin is very real nevertheless. In an especial 
manner the three names represent distinct and 
definite phases in our national growth and de- 
velopment. And in this sense a review of 
Washington's and Lincoln's accomplishments 
form a fitting introduction to the study of Gar- 
field's life and character. Considered separately 
each name possesses a lustre of its own ; but 
taken collectively they form a constellation in 
our national firmament of which we may well 
be proud. As Washington and Lincoln had 
each an important work to perform, and in the 



IN HISTORY. 9 

performance of it represented a distinct class 
of ideas, so had Garfield an important work to 
perform in the way of infusing new life into a 
degenerate political system, and establishing on 
an enduring basis the principles for which 
Lincoln died. 

In this connection it matters not that, having 
been cut off at the commencement of his Presi- 
dential career, he had no opportunity to show 
his ability as a ruler. With reasonable certainty 
we can estimate what he would have been by 
what he was ; and in this respect we fairly claim 
that the order of ideas represented by him 
bears a very close, though indirect, relation to 
the antecedent conditions under Washington 
and Lincoln. If we will only allow ourselves 
time to look below the surface, it will not be a 
very difficult matter for us to perceive that the 
accomplishments of Washington and Lincoln 
needed just such a mind as Garfield's to carry 
them forward to their final fruition and leeiti- 
mate consequences. In claiming this distinction 
for Garfield, I do not mean to say that all other 
Presidents since Lincoln have been wholly un- 
worthy, or have done no good. But I do claim, 



lO GARFIELD'S PLACE 



without hesitation, that there are certain dis- 
tinctive quaHties of greatness connected with the 
three names mentioned, which do not belong- to 
either of the other Presidents who have held 
office since Lincoln's time. 

Grant, as President, was a man of positive 
character ; but we certainly cannot call him 
great in the sense in which we speak of Wash- 
ington, Lincoln, and Garfield. Certain things 
he could and did perform well. But in the 
larger sphere of important questions he did not 
possess that wide sweep of intellectual vision 
and fine discriminative insiijht which are char- 
acteristic of minds naturally fitted to govern. 

Hayes, as President, was undoubtedly an up- 
right and pure man. But between goodness 
and ereatness there is an essential distinction 
which it is always important to bear in mind. 
A man may be thoroughly respectable, and yet 
be utterly devoid of those qualities which com- 
mand the respect and the admiration of the 
world. 

In selecting the names of Washington, Lin- 
coln, and Garfield as those we ought to be most 
proud of, we are therefore simpl}- honoring 



IN HISTORY. II 

those to whom honor is due, and are not doing 
an injustice to those who are less worthy of our 
admiration. It is perhaps due to Hayes to 
contrast the cleanness of his administration with 
the corruption and general demoralization un- 
der Grant. But when we have done this we 
do not thereby invalidate Garfield's claim to pre- 
eminence ; nor do we break the line of histori- 
cal connection between the ideas represented 
by him and those embodied in the life and pur- 
poses of Washington and Lincoln. In the 
order of Providence, Washington represented 
national independence, Lincoln national unity, 
and Garfield national independence and unity, 
made strono^er and more beautiful for the force 
of his intellectual grasp, his nobleness of life, 
and his breadth of culture. 

But here the line of resemblance ceases. 
Washington lived long enough to see his work 
crowned with success ; Lincoln passed success- 
fully through one Presidential term ; but Garfield 
was cut off in the full flower of promise within a 
few months after his inauguration. In the strange 
ordering of events, Providence seems to have 
permitted his death in order that the civilized 



I- GAR FIELD'S PLACE 

world might be refreshed and strengthened by 
a stream of sympathy without a parallel in his- 
tory. In making this statement I do not mean 
to say that Guiteau was necessarily the means 
to the attainment of this hiofher end. But I do 
think it is an incontestable fact that from this 
assassin's crime a vast amount of good has been 
produced, and also that the production of this 
good proves most conclusively the presence of 
that higher Power which guides and controls the 
movements of all things visible and invisible. 
It would be going too far to claim that without 
the evil the good could not have been produced. 
And yet it is within the range of actual experi- 
ence to assert that there is a very close connec- 
tion between the good accomplished and the 
crime of Guiteau, and the conditions consequent 
upon it. This is not the place, however, for us 
to enter into an exhaustive analysis of this 
branch of the subject ; and I therefore simply 
allude to it for the purpose of showing that in 
this, as in other instances, " sufferino-, and sorrow, 
and death, and casualty, and violence, and the 
temporary triumph of evil, and the temporary 
prostration of good, are just as eternal, neces- 



IN HISTORY. 13 

sary, and useful parts of the Divine Providence 
as are the more obviously benignant parts which 
strike all. '=' '^ '=' Things are not at all what 
God's immediate personal supervision would 
popularly seem to require they should be. Sin 
and suffering, injustice, cruelty, and madness are 
immense factors in our common fate. Innocence, 
beauty, worth, only sons, precious infancy, most 
important members of society, are prematurely 
cut off, despite the absence of any plain reasons 
for it, and in direct contradiction to what human 
wisdom would deem fit. The prayers of the 
whole world do not always prevail to save a 
life held by all to be of inestimable value." 

Above and beyond the ever varying phe- 
nomena of life, the eternal principles of God 
remain — immovable and unchangeable. And 
thus it is that strange and perplexing as the 
enigma of life may appear to us, it is neverthe- 
less true that Garfield's mission can never be 
properly understood unless we remember that 
in the development of his powers and the puri- 
fication of his life he was obeying a purpose 
higher than his own inclination, and more com- 
prehensive and far-reaching than mere human 
agencies could render it. 



14 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

I do not mean to say that we need to intro- 
duce the miraculous element to properly under- 
stand the subject before us. But I do mean to 
say that without a proper appreciation of those 
higher forces which enter into the direction of 
human affairs, we cannot intellisfentlv discuss 
the drift and purpose of Garfield's life and char- 
acter. Without a clear conception of the fact 
that the God who guides the movements of the 
planets guides also the course of human affairs, 
we cannot even begin to understand the mean- 
ing of those influences which have emanated 
from the death-bed of our late President. In- 
deed, it is perfectly true to say that it is only by 
a realization of the potentiality of these higher 
forces that we can understand how it is that the 
world is sometimes acted upon and carried for- 
ward by conditions not usually present in the 
sphere of our every-day life. Clearly and un- 
mistakably we have occasional evidences of the 
nearness of a spiritual world from which come 
those influences by which our higher life is sus- 
tained and encouraged. 

In other words, it matters not how firmly and 
persistently we ma)- cling to the idea that the 



IN HISTORY. 15 

supernatural exists only in imagination, the fact 
still remains that there are some conditions of 
human life and human experience which clearly 
indicate the operation of laws higher than those 
which relate to purely natural phenomena. The 
grand and lofty intuitions of the soul, the wide 
and marvellous sweep of human aspiration and 
feeling, the strange and startling experiences of 
life, the " thoughts that wander through eter- 
nity," the deep conviction of our deeper con- 
sciousness — all these are prophetic of things 
above nature. Without in any way destroying 
our confidence in the constancy of nature's 
laws, these higher influences bring us nearer to 
that border land which divides the visible from 
the invisible world ; and as we almost catch the 
echoes of eternity we cannot help feeling that 
life is larger, better, and nobler than our dull, 
commonplace experience would lead us to sup- 
pose. 

And surely if ever there was an instance in 
which we could discover the presence of these 
exceptional forces, giving a higher and a deeper 
meaning to life, it is in the extraordinary conse- 
quences produced by the death of Garfield. 



1 6 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Here we perceive the existence of conditions 
not explainable in the usual way as the result 
of purely natural causes. Here we perceive 
the operation of forces which clearly indicate 
that they have come from heights far above the 
ordinary sources of human thought and feeling. 
Of course, the telegraph, as a semi-miraculous 
natural force, has done much to produce the 
sympathy which has followed the death of the 
heroic sufferer whose loss we still mourn. 
Without the telegraph it would have been im- 
possible for the whole civilized world to unite 
at the same time in one grand humanizing re- 
frain of sorrow. But after we have made every 
allowance for the wonderful influences of the 
telegraph and other scientific features of the 
age, we are still warranted in claiming that 
these conditions do not adequately explain the 
manifestations of deep feeling and tender sym- 
pathy which we have recently witnessed. No 
sooner was the death of our beloved President 
known, than all nations responded to our sor- 
row with a fulness and depth of feeling never 
before experienced in the history of the world ; 
and as we stand beside the silent tjrave at 



IN HISTORY. \y 

Cleveland, it almost seems as if our loss had 
brought earth nearer to heaven, and made the 
world richer and more beautiful in his death. 
Surely this is not the result of an accident, 
neither is it due to any thing fleeting and un- 
real in the emotional nature of man. Instead 
of this, the beautiful sympathy and touching 
tenderness which have issued like a stream of 
living water from the death-bed of our late 
President are, in many respects, the most real 
and potent factors that have ever entered into 
the problem of our national progress. In 
obedience to the same inevitable relation be- 
tween cause and effect as that which prevails in 
the smallest as well as in the largest operations 
of nature, we are here brought face to face with 
forces which cannot otherwise than exercise a 
very powerful influence on our future. It is a 
page of history that can only be properly 
written under a clear conception of the reality 
and potency of certain conditions which the mere 
superficial observer cannot understand or ap- 
preciate. It is a phase in our history which, 
besides being entirely new and without prece- 
dent, is profoundly instructive to those who realize 



1 8 GARFIELHS PLACE 

its importance and value. Other experiences 
we have had, — strange, startHng, and impres- 
sive in their character. But for any thing pre- 
cisely like the death of Garfield, in its touching 
pathos and its sublime lesson, we search in vain. 
As I have already said, the history of the world 
furnishes nothinor Hi^e it. Alone it stands in its 
moral grandeur, its beautiful heroism, its Chris- 
tian fortitude, and its essentially American sim- 
plicity. 

Alone it stands as a sflorious transficruration 
in which the whole civilized world appears ra- 
diant with the promise of a new future born of 
gentleness, sympathy, and a common sorrow. 
Unlike other historical crises it possesses none 
of those startling and volcanic forces which 
cause society to tremble in anticipation of de- 
structive upheavals or great and sudden 
changes. In these respects the death of Presi- 
dent Garfield seems tame and unimposing be- 
side the death of some other great men. But 
in the wide sweep of its influence and the in- 
creased impetus which it has given to the hu- 
manizing forces of the world, it eclipses every 
other event of a similar character of which we 
have any knowledge. 



IN HISTORY. 19 

When Caesar was assassinated the Roman 
world shook and trembled to its very base. 
The shock was sudden, sharp, and bewildering. 
A great man had been murdered in the merid- 
ian of his glory, and the nation stood appalled 
before what seemed a stupendous and over- 
whelming calamity. 

And precisely similar were the first effects of 
Garfield's death. When he fell, we were al- 
most stupefied by the shock, and panic-stricken 
by what appeared to us the probable conse- 
quences of his death. Here, however, the 
resemblance ends, and in the after-consequences 
of the two events there is a wide difference. 
In the death of Csesar Rome lost her greatest 
military genius and an able ruler. He was a 
perfect representative of Roman pride and am- 
bition. And as such he must always occupy a 
commanding position in history. His greatness 
still lives, but it is not the greatness which 
elevates and ennobles the world. In the death 
of Garfield our country received a shock which 
those of us who witnessed it can never forget. 
In depth and intensity of feeling it surpassed 
every thing that the world had seen before. 



20 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Having learned to love and admire him during 
those weary weeks of suffering when he alter- 
nated between the chances of life and death, it 
almost seemed as if, when the time came that 
we were compelled to give him up, that the 
shock had severed one of those strong, mys- 
terious chords which vibrate far down into the 
depths of maternal feeling. 

Unlike Caesar, he wore no laurel crown as a 
symbol of superiority. But he was greater 
than Csesar in that he conquered himself and 
rose to those heights of moral grandeur where 
life takes on a new meaning, and " sweetness 
and light" go hand in hand with purity of 
character and resoluteness of purpose. In the 
opinion of the world the name of Caesar calls 
up a brilliancy of renown wliich it would be 
preposterous for us to claim for Garfield. But 
brilliancy of renown is not, after all, so valuable 
to the world as that sweetness and purity of 
life which softens and elevates humanity by the 
gentle power of its influence. Undoubtedly 
there is a sense in which the great and mighty 
Caesar " worked and created as never any mor- 
tal did before or after him ; and as a worker and 



IN HISTORY. 21 

creator he still, after wellnigh two thousand 
years, lives in the memory of the nations the 
first and the unique, Imperator Csesar." ' 

Great, indeed, is the power indissolubly asso- 
ciated with the name of this extraordinary man. 
In many respects he was a marvel, a prodigy. 
And yet to those who look below the surface 
for the intrinsic quality of true greatness, Gar- 
field's claims rest on a higher order of condi- 
tions than those which relate to the great 
Roman Imperator. In the one instance we are 
struck with the commanding power of a mighty 
intellect. We feel toward Caesar very much as 
we would toward an impressive phenomenon of 
nature. The effect produced upon us is one of 
amazement at the prodigious strength and 
startling velocity of the elements moving be- 
fore us. On the other hand, we admire Gar- 
field for the sweet purity and heroic struggle of 
his life. Growing almost imperceptibly from an 
obscure commencement, his fame rests on 
nothing striking or sudden ; but gradually and 
by slow degrees he wins his way to the highest 
position in the land and the warmest place in 

' History of Rome. Mommsen. 



22 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

the hearts of his countrymen. In the order of 
his development there is nothing extraneous or 
unreal, nothing strange or unnatural but steadily 
and surely he climbs the ladder, until at last he 
reaches a point where the whole civilized world 
learns to love and admire him. 

We admire Csesar for his military genius, his 
executive ability, and his remarkable power as 
a leader of men. We admire Garfield for the 
moral beauty, the sweet simplicity, and the no- 
ble purpose of his life. In a very real sense 
Caesar was the natural outgrowth of the ambition, 
pride, and positive force of Roman character. In 
an equally real sense Garfield was the natural 
product of American institutions, and the growth 
and development which they render possible. 
The two men represent different ages of the world 
and altogether distinct types of excellence and 
greatness. And thus it is, as we follow the line 
of thought suggested b)' a comparison between 
the two men, we are led to ponder deeply the 
sienificant fact that the death of Garfield has 
revealed, as nothing else could have done, the 
wide range of those beneficent conditions which 
our institutions and form of government have 



IN HISTORY. 23 

rendered possible. The strong feeling and the 
deep sympathy which caused the whole civil- 
ized world to kneel with us beside the grave of 
our dead President were not the result of an 
accident or sudden gust of popular opinion, but 
a perfectly natural result of causes and condi- 
tions which have been silently operating on so- 
ciety ever since our ancestors founded a new 
world and opened up a larger field of human de- 
velopment and human possibilities. Not in the 
passing caprice of the moment, not in the tran- 
sitory shadow of a fleeting sorrow, did the 
touching and beautiful tribute of the world's 
sympathy take its rise ; but in the silent 
depths of those humanizing influences which 
needed but the occasion to bring them forth. 
Of course, it is undeniably true that but for 
the noble qualities exhibited by our beloved 
President as he lay on his bed of suffering, 
there would have been no such spontaneous 
outburst of feeling as we have lately witnessed. 
But it is true, at the same time, that the causes 
which rendered such a condition possible are 
very largely due to the profound change which 
has been gradually taking place in the world's 



24 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

estimate of true manliness and dignity. Time 
was when the road to greatness and renown 
was open only to the chosen few. In our day 
the barriers are removed, and all men are eiven 
a chance to rise wherever their abilities may 
carry them. 

The accumulated force of centuries is with 
us ; the gentle influences of Christianity are 
with us ; the broad and liberalizing tendency 
of modern culture is with us ; the immortal 
spirit of hopes and aspirations crushed and 
buried beneath the ruins of past ages is with 
us ; the profoundly interesting problem of self- 
government is a part of our daily life ; and thus 
we move forward in the march of nations, proud- 
ly conscious of the importance of our mission 
and the sacred indestructibility of the principles 
which we represent. In point of fact we stand 
at the confluence of several mighty streams, 
each one contributinor somethinir toward the 
formation of our character and the shaping of 
our destiny. In the strictest sense, we are 
" heirs of all ages," and as we move forward in 
the gradual unfolding and development of our 
national lile, we carry with us a strong impetus 



JN HISTORY. 25 

drawn from the struggles and the aspirations of 
the past. What we are is not the resuh of mi- 
raculous intervention or the suspension of those 
laws by which human progress is regulated and 
determined. Standing, as we do, on the broad 
platform of liberty, equality, and fraternity, 
we carry with us the encouraging conviction 
and the sustaining consciousness that our posi- 
tion is the result of a long line of antecedent 
circumstances, all moving in the direction of 
human development, and all tending toward a 
realization of those dreams which have filled the 
noblest minds in all ages of the world. In 
many respects we have fallen below the possi- 
bilities that lie within our reach. But notwith- 
standing our many shortcomings and imperfec- 
tions, we still remain the nation most thoroughly 
representative of those progressive forces which 
have been gradually accumulating through the 
centuries that have gone before us. As we 
look around us we find much to be ashamed of, 
and much to deplore. But who will venture to 
say that on this account the principles and con- 
ditions which we represent in the eyes of the 
world are unattainable and devoid of meaning ? 



26 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Grantino: the existence of all the evils which 
the most severe critics are able to discover, is it 
not true that the good we have accomplished is 
infinitely greater than the evils which infest 
us ? Admitting- that the moral sense of the av- 
erage politician is very little higher than that of 
the gorilla or the jackal, it is still true that there 
exists among the masses a strong preservative 
element, which fully insures us against the dan- 
ger growing out of special instances of rapa- 
ciousness and corruption. 

It it is true that there are unmistakable evi- 
dences of disease in our body politic ; it is 
equally true that such disease is not inherent 
in our system, but the result of certain abuses 
and excesses which oucjht never to have been 
permitted, and which are still subject to the 
curative power of a healthy patriotic feeling. 
If it is true that we cannot look without shame 
and luiniiliation at the ami)- of hungry office- 
seekers and unprincipled politicians who are 
constantly abusing and defiling our places ol 
public trust, it is equally true that we can point 
with pride to the conditions which rendered it 
possible for a man like Garfield to rise from 



IN HISTORY. 27 

comparative obscurity to a position of eminence 
and honor second to none in the world. Claim- 
ing- no greatness except such as can be meas- 
ured by results accomplished, we can safely 
admit our short-comincfs while we coneratulate 
ourselves on the possession of such possibilities 
as those which underlie our national life. To 
other nations we willingly leave the appreciation 
of those unreal and extrinsic conditions which 
make up the pomp and splendor of royalty, and 
which so often invest " the powers that be " 
with an almost superhuman majesty. For us it 
is our privilege and our pride to represent " the 
principles of liberty, uniting all interests by the 
operation of equal laws, and blending the dis- 
cordant elements into harmonious union." Em- 
bodying in our theory of government and habits 
of life an appreciation of those forces which 
move in the direction of the largest possible 
industrial and intellectual development, we ex- 
ercise an influence which necessarily helps for- 
ward the cause of liberty and progress all over 
the world. Without being egotistical, we can 
fairly claim that we have demonstrated the pos- 
sibility of self-government and the immense 



28 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

value of liberal institutions. " The sovereignty 
of the people is here a conceded axiom, and the 
laws established upon that basis are cherished 
with faithful patriotism. While the nations of 
Europe aspire after change, our Constitution 
engages the fond admiration of the people by 
whom it has been established. Prosperity fol- 
lows the execution of even justice ; invention is 
quickened by the freedom of competition, and 
labor rewarded with sure and unexampled re- 
turns. ''' '•' * 

" Our diplomatic relations connect us on terms 
of equality and honest friendship with the chief 
powers of the world, while we avoid entangling 
participation in their intrigues, their passions, and 
their wars. Our national resources are devel- 
oped by an earnest culture of the arts of peace. 
Every man may enjoy the fruits of his industry ; 
every mind is free to publish its convictions. 

" Our government, by its organization, is 
necessarily identified with the interests of the 
people, and relies exclusively on their attach- 
ment for its durabilit)- and support. Even the 
enemies of the State, if there are any among us, 
have liberty to express their opinions undis- 



IN HISTORY. 29 

turbed, and are safely tolerated, when reason is 
left free to combat their errors. Nor is the 
Constitution a dead letter, unalterably fixed ; it 
has the capacity for improvement, adopting 
whatever changes time and the public will may 
require, and safe from decay so long as that will 
retains its energy." ' 

And thus it is that in reviewinsf the circum- 
stances through which our country has passed 
from its early condition as a desolate solitude, 
" lavishino^ its strength in masfnificent but use- 
less vegetation," to its present proud position in 
the vanguard of civilization and progress, we 
are forcibly impressed with the magnitude of 
those forces which, under God's guidance, have 
made us what we are. At times, as in the case 
of Washington, Lincoln, and Garfield, these 
forces seem to concentrate themselves in one 
individual, representing in an especial sense the 
necessities, the hopes, and the aspirations of the 
age. Of them it may well be said that — 

" They above the rest, 
In shape and gesture proudly eminent, 
Stand like a tower." 

' History of the United States of America. Bancroft. 



30 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Following each other in the national sequence 
of events, and closely related by the bond of his- 
toric connection, these three great men ought 
to live forever in the hearts of their country- 
men. 

Oi course, from the nature of the circum- 
stances, Garfield was great in a different way 
from his illustrious predecessors. And yet in 
some respects he was even greater than they 
were. 

Coming into office at a time when there were 
no important issues before the country, and hold- 
ing the reins of power only a few months, it may 
seem to some persons that we cannot consist- 
ently claim a prominent place in history for 
Garfield. But to objectors I can only say, as I 
have previously intimated, that a man of strong 
character and powerful intellect can do more in 
a few months than an ordinary man of average 
ability can do in four years. Besides, to prop- 
erly appreciate Garfield's place in history, it is 
not enough for us to confine ourselves to his 
brief term as President. In a measure it would 
be proper to treat this as a distinct and separate 
phase in his life. But to confine ourselves too 



IN HISTORY. 31 

closely to this method would be to leave out of 
our estimate many important considerations 
which we cannot prudently dispense with, and 
the omission of which would be, to say the 
least, unscientific and unphilosophical. In ad- 
dition to the claims arisino- from the bright 
promise of his administration, there is a gradual 
process of evolution connected with his life 
which we cannot properly overlook in forming 
our estimate, — a process which, although inde- 
pendent of his duties as President, is neverthe- 
less of great value as indicating the quality of 
character and general drift of disposition with 
which we have to deal. In the fullest possible 
manner Garfield was a self-made man ; and as 
we follow him throucrh his strueeles until he 
reaches the zenith of his fame, we cannot help 
feeling the force of Longfellow's lines : 

Lives of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime, 
And, departing, leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time ;^ 
Footprints, that perhaps anotlier, 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 

Seeing, shall take heart again. 



32 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Surely, there is something- elevating, inspiring, 
and ennobling in the fact that the poor lad who 
at thirteen could not read, dies at fifty the tenant 
of an office second in dignity to none on earth. 
How far he would have succeeded as President 
is a question that can never be fully and definitely 
answered. Probably the surging sea of party 
strife would have hindered the realization of 
many of his brightest hopes and most cherished 
desires. But however this may have been, v/e 
do know that his aims were lofty, his purposes 
noble, and his patriotism pure and unalloyed. 

Broad in his intellectual views, pure and 
gentle in his character, competent and well- 
skilled in the requirements of his position, and 
intensely human in his sympathies and feelings, 
there is every reason why he should have made 
an exceptionally able President. In the highest 
sense he was a man competent to govern, and 
was also thoroughly acquainted with the needs 
of the country he was called upon to rule. 

A great man is made up of qualities that meet 
or make great occasions ; and we can safely 
say of him that the possession of these quali- 
ties had been frequently demonstrated by him. 



IN HISTORY. 33 

Always on the side of a policy guided by firm- 
ness of purpose, honesty of intention, and com- 
prehensiveness of view, he never missed an op- 
portunity to express his opinions clearly, forcibly, 
and fearlessly. Nor w^ere these opinions the 
result of hasty judgment, party interest in its 
narrowest sense, or mere expediency. In every 
instance they were characterized by a breadth 
of thought, a clearness of insight, and a depth 
of penetration which nothing but mature reflec- 
tion and close study could give them. Unlike 
some of the so-called great men of the present 
day, he was a statesman and not a politician. 
By principles, and not by measures of ex- 
pediency, was he swayed and governed. In 
his speeches there is no unnecessary exuberance 
of figure, no profuseness of display, no ambiguity 
of meaning, no posturing for public effect ; but, 
like the utterances of England's greatest living 
statesman, they come to us fresh, pure, limpid, 
and earnest, from the depths of an intense moral 
conviction. I would not be understood as say- 
ing that in point of ability and intellectual power 
Garfield was the equal of Gladstone. To claim 
this would be to claim too much. But I think 



34 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

I can consistently argue that the two men repre- 
sent the same order of ideas sfrowincr out of 
clear and comprehensive judgment, a lofty pur- 
pose, and a proper appreciation of the finer ele- 
ments of liberty and justice. 

Pre-eminently pure and honest in their mo- 
tives, strong in their conceptions of duty, and 
scrupulous in observing the dictates of conscience, 
they express the best and highest tendencies of 
English and American political life. Gladstone 
towers above all his contemporaries like an in- 
tellectual q-iant acting under the impulse of a fine 
moral enthusiasm, while Garfield's name calls up 
the thouiirht of those errand forces which drive 
the world forward in the right direction. 

To illustrate this point more clearly, however, 
it will perhaps be best to turn to some of Gar- 
field's speeches delivered in Congress, from 
which we can gather a line of indispensable evi- 
dence. In tlic limits of this work it will, of 
course, be impossible to make extracts from all 
of his public utterances, but we can at least 
make such as will enable us to demonstrate 
the validit)' of his claim to pre-eminence as a 
statesman. 



nV HISTORY. 35 

Mr. Speaker, — We shall never know why slavery dies 
so hard in this Republic and in this Hall till we know why 
sin has such longevity and Satan is immortal. With mar- 
vellous tenacity of existence, it has outlived the expecta- 
tions of its friends and the hopes of its enemies. It has 
been declared here and elsewhere to be in all the several 
stages of mortality — wounded, moribund, dead. The 
question was raised by my colleague [Mr. Cox] yesterday, 
whether it was indeed dead, or only in a troubled sleep. 
I know of no better illustration of its condition than is 
found in Sallust's admirable history of the great conspir- 
ator, Catiline, who, when his final battle was fought and 
lost, his army broken and scattered, was found far in ad- 
vance of his own troops, lying among the dead enemies 
of Rome, yet breathing a little, but exhibiting in his 
countenance all that ferocity of spirit which had charac- 
terized his life. So, sir, this body of slavery lies before 
us among the dead enemies of the republic, mortally 
wounded, impotent in its fiendish wickedness, but with its 
old ferocity of look, bearing the unmistakable marks of 
its infernal origin. 



* * 



My gallant colleague [Mr. Pendleton], for I recognize 
him as a gallant and able man, plants himself at the door 
of his darling, and bids defiance to all assailants. He 
has followed slavery in its flight, until at last it has 
reached the great temple where liberty is enshrined — the 
Constitution of the United States — and there, in that last 
retreat, declares that no hand shall strike it. It reminds 
me of that celebrated passage in the great Latin poet, in 



36 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

which the serpents of the Ionian Sea, when they had de- 
stroyed Laocoon and his sons, fled to the heights of the 
Trojan citadel and coiled their slimy lengths around the 
feet of the tutelar goddess, and were covered by the orb 
of her shield. So, under the guidance of my colleague, 
slavery, gorged with the blood of ten thousand freemen, 
has climbed to the high citadel of American nationality, 
and coiled itself securely, as he believes, around the feet 
of the statue of justice, and under the shield of the Con- 
stitution of the United States. We desire to follow it 
even there, and kill it beside the very altar of liberty. 
Its blood can never make atonement for the least of its 

crimes. 

******* 

We should do nothing inconsistent with the spirit and 
genius of our institutions. We should do nothing for re- 
venge, but every thing for security ; nothing for the past, 
every thing for the present and the future. Indemnity 
for the past we can never obtain. The four hundred 
thousand graves in which sleep our fathers and brothers, 
murdered by rebellion, will keep their sacred trust till the 
ansel of the resurrection bids the dead come forth. The 
tears, the sorrow, the unutterable anguish of broken 
hearts can never be atoned for. We turn from that sad 
but glorious past, and demand such securities for the 
future as can never be destroyed. 

And, first, we must recognize in all our action the stu- 
pendous facts of the war. In the very crisis of our fate 
God brought us face to face with the alarming truth that 
we must lose our own freedom to grant it to the slave. 



IN HISTORY. 37 

In the extremity of our distress we called upon the black 
man to help us save the Republic, and amidst the very 
thunder of battle we made a covenant with him, sealed 
both with his blood and ours, and witnessed by Jehovah, 
that when the nation was redeemed, he should be free, 
and share with us the glories and blessings of freedom. 
In the solemn words of the great proclamation of eman- 
cipation, we not only declared the slaves forever free, but 
we pledged the faith of the nation " to maintain their free- 
dom " — mark the words, " to maintain their freedom'' 
The Omniscient witness will appear in judgment against 
us if we do not fulfil that covenant. Have we done it ? 
Have we given freedom to the black man ? What is 
freedom ? Is it a mere negation ; the bare privilege of 
not being chained, bought and sold, branded and 
scourged ? If this be all, then freedom is a bitter mock- 
ery, a cruel delusion, and it may well be questioned 
whether slavery were not better. 

But liberty is no negation. It is a substantive, tangible 
reality. It is the realization of those imperishable truths 
of the Declaration " that all men are created equal," that 
the sanction of all just government is " the consent of 
the governed." Can these truths be realized until each 
man has a right to be heard on all matters relating to 
himself ? — Debate on Constitutional Amendment to Abolish 
Slavery, J^an, 13, 1S65. 

I need only refer to the horn-books of financial science 
to show that the only sure test of the redundancy of paper- 
money is its convertibility into coin at the will of the 



38 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

holder, and that its redundancy will inevitably increase 
prices. On the latter proposition I will read a sentence 
from the highest living authority in political economy 
(John Stuart Mill, Political Economy, vol. ii, p. iS): 
" That an increase of the quantity of money raises prices 
and a diminution lowers them is the most elementary 
proposition in the theory of currency, and without it we 
should have no key to any of the others." 

I call attention, because the gentleman from Pennsyl- 
vania [Mr. Stevens] has referred to it, to the remarkable 
example in British financial history. I have never seen a 
more perfect illustration of the truth that history repeats 
itself than this debate as compared with the debate in the 
British Parliament during their great struggle for a return 
to specie payments after their war against Napoleon. 
From 1797 to 1819 the British people had only a paper 
circulation, and, as is always the case, the poorer cur- 
rency drove out the better. As respectable people leave 
that portion of a city in which disreputable people settle, 
so gold retires before an irredeemable paper currency. If 
our customs and the interest on our public debt had not 
been made payable in coin, gold would have disappeared 
from the country. In England, when they had no gold 
in circulation, when prices had risen, when rents had 
risen, after stocks had fallen, Englishmen did what we 
are now attempting to do. 

I refer to this, sir, as a matter of history,' and I further 
assert that there is no respectable authority on the sub- 
ject of finance on the other side of the water or here 
that denies the doctrine that the only true test of re- 



IN HISTORY. 39 

dundancy of currency is its convertibility into gold. 
You may bring your figures to prove that we have no 
more currency than our trade requires, but I tell you 
that so long as your paper dollar cannot be converted 
into gold there is too much currency, and the moment it 
can be converted into gold for its face it has reached a 
stable and safe basis. 

Now, if any gentleman here has the temerity to deny 
this doctrine, I shall be pleased to hear his reasons for it. 
To make his denial good, he must prove that the im- 
mutable laws of value have been overthrown. He can- 
not plead that the necessities of trade alone control the 
value of currency. Double the amount of currency, 
and the money market will be apparently more stringent ; 
triple the amount, and money will be more stringent 
still. Why do we need four times as much money now 
to move the products of the country as was needed five 
years ago ? Simply because the inflation of the currency 
has quadrupled prices, and deranged values. 

But the worst feature in the case is the stimulus which 
this inflation gives to dishonesty everywhere, and the 
consequent discouragement of productive industry. I will 
not now question the policy of the act of 1862, by which 
paper-money was made a legal-tender. It was, perhaps, 
a necessity of the war that could not have been avoided. 
But no one will deny that it unsettled the basis of all 
values in this country. It was a declaration by law that 
a promise to pay a dollar might be discharged by paying 
a sum less than a dollar. 'I'here was a time within the 
last two years when an obligation to pay one hundred 



40 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

dollars could be legally cancelled by the payment of 
thirty-eight dollars. The manifold evils resulting from 
such a state of values cannot be computed. To fulfil in 
January the contract of July may ruin the creditor, be- 
cause the meaning of the most important word in the 
contract has been changed by the changing market. 
The dollar of July may have represented forty cents, 
while the dollar of January may represent double that 
sum. 

Will prudent men embark in solid business, and risk 
all they possess to such uncertain chances ? There is 
left open the alluring temptation to speculate on the rise 
and fall of gold stocks and commodities — a pursuit in 
which all that is gained by one is lost by another, and no 
addition is made to the public wealth. And this is the 
history of thousands of our business men. They have 
trusted their capital to the desperate chances of Wall 
Street. They have embarked on the sea of paper-money, 
and they ask us to keep the flood rising that they may 
float. Every day adds stimulus to this insane gambling, 
and depresses legitimate business and honest labor. The 
tide must be checked, and the fury of the flood rtslrained. 
We must bring values back to the solid standard of 
gold. Let that be done, and the fabric of business is 
founded, not on the sand, but on the firm rock of public 
faith. The fury of the storm tore us from our moorings, 
and left us to the mercy of the waves. Let us pilot the 
good ship again into port, so that we may once more feel 
the solid earth beneath our feet. 

Mr. Speaker, there is no leading financier, no leading 



IN HISTORY. 41 

statesman now living, or one who has hved within the 
last half-century, in whose opinion the gentleman can 
find any support. They all declare, as the Secretary of 
the Treasury declares, that the only honest basis of value 
is a currency redeemable in specie at the will of the 
holder. I am an advocate of paper-money, but that 
paper-money must represent what it professes on its 
face. I do not wish to hold in my hands the printed lies 
of the government ; I want its promise to pay, signed by 
the high officers of the government, sacredly kept in the 
exact meaning of the words of the promise. Let us not 
continue to practise this conjurer's art by which sixty 
cents shall discharge a debt of one hundred cents. I do 
not want industry everywhere to be thus crippled and 
wounded, and its wounds plastered over with legally au- 
thorized lies. — Debate on Curreficy and Specie Payments, 
March 16, 1S66. 

Let me call attention to a few features of the bill now 
before the House. Its first section abolishes all the re- 
serves by which our statesmen have hitherto protected 
the circulation of banks, and kept them in readiness to 
redeem their notes. This great safeguard is to be thrown 
away. The ballast is to be tossed from the boat of the 
balloon — the cables are to be cut which held it to the 
earth. But the section will operate unequally and un- 
justly. For example, it requires five and a half millions 
less of reserve to be held by the banks of New York, and 
five and a half millions more by the banks of Boston, 
than is now required by law. Inflation in Nevv' York — 
contraction in Boston. 



42 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Section 5 works a revolution in the system of bank 
balances. It requires five per cent, of the circulation of 
every national bank to be kept in New York and Wash- 
ington. This takes twenty millions of greenbacks away 
from the sixteen redemption cities of the United States, 
and places them in Washington and New York, for the 
purpose of making the officers of the Treasury assort and 
redeem the mutilated currency of the banks, and issue 
new notes in their place. 

By the third section forty-four millions are added to 
the greenback circulation. By this we are to lose all we 
have gained in the way of redeeming the promise of the 
nation to pay its long overdue paper. This is a perma- 
nent postponement of specie payments ; it hopelessly 
cripples the machinery by which that result is to be 
reached. To this is added an unlimited increase of na- 
tional bank-notes. 

By this measure we invite two dangers. With one 
hand we throw overboard the ballast ; with the other we 
spread the sails, and thus commit the ship of our public 
credit 

" To the god of storms, 
The lightning and the gale." 

I believe, Mr. Speaker, that the proposition before us 
is fraught with measureless mischief. If you will author- 
ize free banking coupled with some wise restriction — 
something that will lead us slowly but surely toward 
specie payments ; if we can reach the two great results — 
specie payments and free banking — we shall preserve the 
quality of our currency, and shall leave its quantity to be 



IN HISTORY. 43 

regulated by the demands of trade. There never did 
exist on this earth a body of men wise enough to deter- 
mine by any arbitrary rule how much currency is needed 
for the business of a great country. The laws of trade, 
the laws of credit, the laws of God impressed upon the 
elements of this world, are superior to all legislation ; and 
we can enjoy the benefits of these immutable laws only by 
obeying them. 

I desire, Mr. Speaker, that all the real wants of the 
Great West and of the whole country shall be fully sup- 
plied, but let them be supplied by that which is reality, 
and not by broken and dishonored promises. Let us not 
offer to the people of this country the apples of Sodom, 
that shall turn to ashes on their lips. 

I believe, sir, that, if this legislation prevails, the day 
is not far distant when the cry will come up from those 
who labor in humblest fields of industry, denouncing 
those who have let loose upon them the evils enveloped 
in this bill. It has been demonstrated again and again 
that upon the artisans, the farmers, the day-laborers falls 
at last the dead weight of all the depreciation and loss 
that irredeemable paper-money carries in its train. Let 
this policy be carried out, and the day will surely and 
speedily come when the nation will clearly trace the 
cause of its disaster to those who deluded themselves 
and the people with what Jefferson fitly called "leger- 
demain tricks of paper-money." — Debate o?i an Act to 
Amend the several Acts providing a Natioiial Currency, and 
to Establish Free Ba?iking, and for other Purposes, April 
8, 1874. 



44 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Mr. Speaker. — We have probably never legislated on 
any question the influence of which reaches farther, both 
territorially and in time, and touches more interests, more 
vital interests, than are touched by this and similar bills. 
No man can doubt that within recent years, and notably 
within recent months the leading thinkers of the civilized 
world have become alarmed at the attitude of the two 
precious metals in relation to each other ; and many lead- 
ing thinkers are becoming clearly of the opinion that by 
some wise, judicious arrangement both the precious 
metals must be kept in service for the currency of the 
world. And this opinion has been very rapidly gaining 
ground within the last six months, to such an extent that 
Engl?nd, which for more than half a century has stoutly 
adhered to the single gold standard, is now seriously 
meditating how she may harness both these metals to the 
monetary car of the world. And yet, outside of this 
Capitol, I do not this day know of a single great and rec- 
ognized advocate of bi-metallic money who regards it 
prudent or safe for any nation largely to increase the 
coinage standard of silver coin at the present time beyond 
the limits fixed by existing laws. France and the states 
of the Latin Union, that have long believed in bi-metal- 
lism, maintained it against all comers, and have done all 
in their power to advocate it throughout the world, dare 
not coin a single silver coin, and have not done so since 
1874. I'he most strenuous advocates of bi-metallisni in 
those countries say it would be ruinous to bi-metallism 
for France or the Latin Union to coin any more silver at 
present. The remaining stock of German silver now for 



IN HISTORY. 45 

sale, amounting to from forty to seventy-five millions of 
dollars, is a standing menace to the exchanges and silver 
coinage of Europe. One month ago the leading financial 
journal of London proposed that the Bank of England 
buy one half of the German surplus and hold it five 
years on condition that the German government shall 
hold the other half off the market. The time is ripe for 
some wise and prudent arrangement among the nations to 
save silver from a disastrous break-down. 

Yet we, who during the past two years have coined far 
more silver dollars than we ever before coined since the 
foundation of the government — ten times as many as we 
coined during half a century of our national life — are to- 
day ignoring and defying the enlightened, universal opin- 
ion of bi-metallists, and saying that the United States, 
single-handed and alone, can enter the field and settle 
the mighty issue alone. We are justifying the old prov- 
erb that " Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." 

It is sheer madness, Mr. Speaker. I once saw a dog on 
a great stack of hay that had been floated out into the 
wild, overflowed stream of a river, with its stack-pen and 
foundation still holding together, but ready to be wrecked. 
For a little while the animal appeared to be perfectly 
happy. His hay-stack was there, and the pen around it, 
and he seemed to think the world bright, and his happi- 
ness secure, while the sunshine fell softly on his head and 
his hay. But by and by he began to discover that the 
house and the barn and their surroundings were not all 
there as they were when he went to sleep the night be- 
fore ; and he began to see that he could not command all 



46 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

the prospect and peacefully dominate the scene as he had 
done before. So with this House. We assume to man- 
age this mighty question which has been launched on the 
wild current that sweeps over the whole world, and we 
bark from our legislative hay-stacks as though we com- 
manded the whole world. In the name of common- 
sense and sanity, let us take some account of the flood ; 
let us understand that a deluge means something, and try, 
if we can, to get our bearings before we undertake to set- 
tle the affairs of all mankind by a vote of this House. 

To-day we are coining one third of all the silver that is 
being coined in the round world. China is coining 
another third ; and all other nations are using the re- 
maining one third for subsidiary coin. And if we want to 
take rank with China and part company with all the civil- 
ized nations of the Western world, let us pass this bill, 
and then ''bay the moon," as we float down the whirling 
channel to take our place among the silver mono-metal- 
lists of Asia. — Debate on the New Silver Bill, May 17, 
1879. 

Surely, as we read these utterances, we can- 
not avoid being impressed by the earnestness, 
comprehensiveness, and solidity of their char- 
acter. 

Besides being clear, strong, and convincing, 
they give evidence of a familiarity with public 
affairs, a comprehensiveness of grasp, and a 
fertility of illustration which prove the superior 



IN HISTORY. 47 

intellectual quality of the man by whom they 
were produced. In no instance do we find any 
thing approaching the shallow sophistry, the ex- 
travagantly ornamented expressions meaning 
nothing, the cunning trickery of high-sounding 
but ambiguous phrases, and the dexterous spe- 
cial pleading of the wily politician. But instead 
of this, each subject is treated with a depth of 
analysis, a clearness of elucidation, and an hon- 
esty of purpose entirely beyond the reach of 
men of smaller intellectual and moral stature. 
In his method of treatment, every thing is sub- 
jected to the searching light of reason directed 
by wide research and a naturally philosophic 
mind. With a perspicuity and comprehensive- 
ness possible only with great minds, he pene- 
trates below the surface, and searches out the 
causes that have their roots far down in the 
depths of those conditions by which society is 
governed. Dispassionate, logical, and convinc- 
ing in his arguments, he never forgets the im- 
portant truth so well expressed in his own words, 
" that it is not the billows but the calm level oi 
the sea from which all heights and depths are 
measured." Following the philosophic ten- 



48 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

dency of his mind, he looked at all subjects in a 
large and generous manner, and as he weighed, 
sifted, and analyzed the evidence, he formed his 
conclusions not from any bias or prejudice, but 
from a careful, candid, and impartial investiga- 
tion. In a very large measure the cast of his 
mind was judicial ; and being, at the same time, 
a close student and a deep thinker, we find in 
all of his important speeches strength of con- 
viction tempered by judicial calmness and " the 
still air of delightful studies." To his mind the 
function of c^overnment consisted in somethine 
more than the simple protection of the rights of 
individuals living within its jurisdiction. Above 
and beyond this there arose vast questions in- 
cluding the care of their general welfare, the 
higher interests of education, culture, religion, 
morality, prosperity, and happiness. Without 
being a Utilitarian in the strict sense of the 
term, he seems always to have kept in view the 
greatest good of the greatest number. Being 
in the fullest manner a representative of the 
people, and knowing perfectly well that a gov- 
ernment which does not rest on the affections 
of the people is necessarily imperfect as well as 



IN HISTORY. 49 

insecure, he always directed his purposes tow- 
ard the supreme and fundamental fact that 
Union means something infinitely more than a 
mere compact based on what Burke calls " in- 
dividual momentary aggregation." 

In stating this, however, it must not be sup- 
posed that, to a man of his keen intellectual 
insight, the dangers of our democratic form 
of government were unknown. Having an 
unbounded faith in the good effects connected 
with the sovereignty of the people, he was at 
the same time too close a student of history to 
overlook the dangers by which we are sur- 
rounded. 

He knew perfecdy well how much food for 
thought there is in some of the adverse criti- 
cisms on democracies ; but he also knew the 
character of his countrymen, their respect for 
law and order, and their deep attachment to the 
nobler aims of liberty and progress. He well 
knew how easy it is for unscrupulous dema- 
gogues to inflame the passions of the people, 
and by cunning devices turn them against the 
better class of citizens ; but he also knew that 
the foundations of liberty lie deeper than the 



50 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

tempestuous fury of the moment. Having 
passed through some of the most important 
crises in our history, and having had ample op- 
portunity to study the movements of popular 
opinion, he realized the essential durability of 
those conditions on which our orovernment 
rests. Having seen these conditions strained 
at one moment to their utmost tension by in- 
tense popular excitement, and then at another 
moment returning without difficulty to their nor- 
mal action, he could not but realize that while 
the lower forces of our political life must neces- 
sarily cause us anxiety, they are by no means 
strong enough to destroy the beautiful temple 
which we have dedicated to the cause of lib- 
erty, equality, and justice. 

As in the temple of Vesta, the Vestal vir- 
gins kept the sacred fire constantly alive, so in 
this fair temple of ours — surpassing in its 
beauty, although not made with hands — the sa- 
cred fire is kept continually burning by those 
who, like our late President, are filled with the 
fine feeling of a pure and noble patriotism. 
Around us the storm may rage, and impending 
dangers threaten, but so long as we are true to 



IN HISTORY. 51 

ourselves we need have no fear concerning the 
perpetuity of those principles which form the 
foundation of our national polity. 

Thon, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 

Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 

Humanity, with all its fears. 

With all the hopes of future years, 

Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 

We know what Master laid thy keel, 

What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, 

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 

What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 

In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 

Fear not each sudden sound and shock 

'T is of the wave and not the rock ; 

'T is but the flapping of the sail. 

And not a rent made by the gale ! 

In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 

In spite of false lights on the shore, 

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 

Our faith triumphant o'er our fears. 

Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 

To the noble music of these words we can well 
imagine how thoroughly the warm patriotic spirit 



52 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

of Garfield responded. Indeed, they are in a 
very important sense the very breath and spirit 
of his large and richly endowed nature. 

Nor is it too much to say that it is perhaps 
to his vivid realization of the indestructibility of 
these principles that the massive solidity and 
strong purpose of his character is primarily due. 
Having caught the spirit of a noble heroism 
drawn from the contemplation of lofty subjects 
and eternal principles, he seems never to have 
lost confidence in the ultiniate triumph of lib- 
erty, justice, and virtue. He believed with all 
his heart and soul in the glorious mission of his 
country ; and he brought his whole life and 
character up to the standard of this ideal. For 
him the voice of conscience was supreme, and 
the dictates of party expediency a secondary 
consideration. Always loyal to his party in the 
best sense, he was above all things true to his 
convictions as to what seemed his line of duty. 
Other men we have had in public life who have 
been more boisterous in their praises of liberty 
and equality, but among all our public men 
there is none who exhibits so deep and earnest 
an appreciation of what the terms liberty and 
equality mean. 



IN HISTORY. 53 

Like Webster and Sumner, he took a wide 
and comprehensive view of these subjects, and 
in his treatment of them he never fell below the 
level of keen intellectual appreciation, accompa- 
nied by a profound insight into those subtle 
conditions which elude the ordinary observer. 
By careful study and singleness of purpose, he 
took care to master every subject as it came up 
for discussion in Congress ; and thus, as in the 
currency question, when other members were 
indulging in wild and extravagantly absurd 
theories, he set himself studiously to master 
the question in the light of history, common- 
sense, and the most generally accepted theories 
of political economists. Thus thoroughly 
equipped with the results of careful research 
and his own quick perceptive powers, he ap- 
pealed to Congress not to be led astray by fal- 
lacious arguments and absurd theories, but to 
follow resolutely and honestly the only course 
consistent with our position as a leading civil- 
ized nation. 

Referring to this speech, from which I have 
already quoted, one of his biographers has well 
said : " The time of the delivery of this speech 



54 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

is important to be considered. It was long be- 
fore the Republican party had been brought — 
largely through the heroic firmness of two suc- 
cessive Presidents — Grant and Hayes — into 
substantial unity on the main features of the 
currency question. It is easy enough now for 
Republican statesmen to advocate what Garfield 
so courageously advocated fourteen years ago 
in time, and a generation ago in events."' And 
thus it is, whether we reofard this extraordinarv 
man as a wonderful product of self-culture, or 
a wcll-traiiied representative of the people, we 
cannot avoid the conclusion that he was in all 
respects essentially great, and in some respects 
unique and strikingly exceptional. 

Nor is the warrant for our estimate of his 
greatness less clear and convincing when we 
approach him on that side of his nature which 
enables us to enter more fully into the habits and 
tastes of his inner life. In examining his public 
career we are forcibly impressed by the won- 
derful tenacity of purpose, alertness of intellect, 
and comprehensiveness of mental grasp which 
enabled him to deal intelligentl)- and thoroughly 

* Life of James A. Garfield. Bundy. 



IN HISTORY, 55 

with every important question as it arose. In 
examining the record of those quaHties of mind 
and heart which reveal more truly his personal- 
ity, we cannot help admiring the well-rounded 
culture and fine spirituality on which his charac- 
ter rests. Much as we admire the ability and 
application which made him a leader of men, 
there is even greater cause for admiration when 
we approach those finer shades of thought and 
feeling belonging to the quiet sphere of his pri- 
vate life. 

Here, as we follow him in his devotion to 
self-culture, we seem to catch the inspiration of 
his ever erowine nature and the fine fras^'rance 
of his healthy moral and intellectual develop- 
ment. 

Always acting under the strong desire to 
acquire knowledge, and always remembering 
that it is man's duty to grow, he never missed 
an opportunity to enlarge his mind and enrich 
his culture. Acting ahvays under a keen appre- 
ciation of moral forces akin to that of Milton 
when he satisfied himself that " he who would 
truly write an heroic poem must make his whole 
life an heroic poem," he never faltered in what 



$6 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

appeared to him the proper course for enrich- 
ing his intellectual and moral nature. 

Alternating between the busy life of the 
statesman and the serene thouq-htfulness of the 
scholar, we find him at one moment plunged in 
an excitinof contest in ConQ^ress, and at another 
moment translating Horace, analyzing Mill's 
philosophy, and studying Shakespeare, Goethe, 
and Tennyson. In the fullest sense, the versa- 
tility of his mind and the extraordinary range of 
his intellectual powers place him in the front 
rank of the great men produced by this age and 
this country. Constantly busy, and yet finding 
time for the examination of those subjects which 
are generally supposed to be confined to spe- 
cialists and scholars living within the tranquil 
sphere of academic culture, he stands before us 
a perfect illustration of what grand results abil- 
ity and concentration of purpose can accomplish. 
Every day added fresh depth to his thought, 
increased range to his analytical powers, and 
greater strencfth to his moral nature. Evi- 
dently he did not believe in the popular delusion 
that for a man to be intellectually great he must 
be morally unsound. But instead of this he 



IN HISTORY. 57 

seems to have directed all his powers toward a 
well-rounded and complete development, em- 
bracing his moral and spiritual as well as his 
intellectual faculties. He did not overdo the 
intellectual part of the process, but, keeping 
always in view the "virtue-making" powers, he 
beautified his character while he enlarofed his 
culture. To his mind character, truthful, solid, 
pure, and high, was " better than gold, yea than 
tine gold, its revenue than choice silver." 

Growing graduall}% surely, and grandly, he 
overcame poverty, surmounted difficulties, and 
conquered his lower nature, until at last what 
he said of Joseph Henry is true of himself: 
" He catches a strain of that immortal sone to 
which his own spirit answers, and which be- 
comes thenceforth and forever the inspiration of 
his life." 

Great in the political arena, he was even 
greater in that higher sphere of life and action 
wherein a crown of immortal glory awaits the 
few who conquer. Brave, earnest, and con- 
scientious, he never faltered in his manly en- 
deavors to improve the present and lay deep 
the foundations of his intellectual and spiritual 
growth. 



58 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

In addition to his practical insight into the 
ordinary affairs of life, he carried into his esti- 
mate of men and things that fine moral sense 
and glowing aspiration which ultimately placed 
him on a pinnacle of greatness rarely attained 
by even the strongest minds ; — 

And moving up from high to higher, 
Became, on fortune's crowning slope, 
The pillar of a people's hope, 

The centre of a world's desire. 

As a means, however, of demonstrating more 
fully his rare philosophical insight, his fine 
spirituality, his deep reflective powers, and the 
healthy tone of his intellectual and moral nature, 
we have only to examine the following extracts 
from his occasional addresses and writings. 



ij' 



It is well to know the history of those magnificent na- 
tions, whose origin is lost in fable, and whose epitaphs 
were written a thousand years ago ; but if we cannot 
know both, it is far better to study the history of our own 
nation, whose origin we can trace to the freest and noblest 
aspirations of the human heart, — a nation that was formed 
from the hardiest, purest, and most enduring elements of 
European civilization, — a nation that by its faith and 
courage has dared and accomplished more for the human 



IN HISTORY. 59 

race in a single century than Europe accomplished in tlie 
first thousand years of the Christian era. The New 
England township was the type after which our federal 
government was modelled ; yet it would be rare to find 
a college student who can make a comprehensive and in- 
telligible statement of the municipal organization of the 
township in which he was born, and tell you by what 
officers its legislative, judicial, and executive functions 
are administered. One half of the time which is now al- 
most wholly wasted, in district schools, on English gram- 
mar, attempted at too early an age, would be sufificient to 
teach our children to love the Republic, and to become 
its loyal and life-long supporters. After the bloody bap- 
tism from which the nation has arisen to a higher and 
nobler life, if this shameful defect in our system of edu- 
cation be not speedily remedied, we shall deserve the 
infinite contempt of future generations. I insist that it 
should be made an indispensable condition of graduation 
in every American college, that the student must under- 
stand the history of this continent since its discovery by 
Europeans, the origin and history of the United States, 
its constitution of government, the struggles through 
which it has passed, and the rights and duties of citizens 
who are to determine its destiny and share its glory. 

Having thus gained the knowledge which is necessary 
to life, health, industry, and citizenship, the student is 
prepared to enter a wider and grander field of thought. 
If he desires that large and liberal culture which will call 
into activity all his powers, and make the most of the 
material God has given him, he must study deeply and 



60 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

earnestly the intellectual, the moral, the religious, and 
the aesthetic nature of man ; his relations to nature, to 
civilization, past and present; and, above all, his relations 
to God. These should occupy, nearly, if not fully, half 
the time of his college course. In connection with the 
philosophy of the mind, he should study logic, the pure 
mathematics, and the general laws of thought. In con- 
nection with moral philosophy, he should study political 
and social ethics, a science so little known either in col- 
leges or congresses. Prominent among all the the rest 
should be his study of the wonderful history of the 
human race, in its slow and toilsome march across the 
centuries, — now buried in ignorance, superstition, and 
crime ; now rising to the sublimity of heroism and catch- 
ing a glimpse of a better destiny ; now turning remorse- 
lessly away from, and leaving to perish, empires and 
civilizations in which it had invested its faith and cour- 
age and boundless energy for a thousand years, and 
plunging into the forests of Germany, Gaul, and Britain, 
to build for itself new empires better fitted for its new as- 
pirations ; and, at last, crossing three thousand miles of 
unknown sea, and building in the wilderness of a new 
hemisphere its latest and proudest monuments. — Ati Ad- 
dress on Education delivered at Hiram, June 14, 1S67. 

There are times in the history of men and nations, 
when they stand so near the veil that separates mortals 
and immortals, time from eternity, and men from their 
God, that they can almost hear their breathings and feel 
the pulsations of the heart of the infinite. Through 



IN HISTORY. 6 1 

such a time has this nation passed. When two hundred 
and fifty thousand brave spirits passed from the field of 
honor through that thin veil to the presence of God, and 
when, at last, its parting folds admitted the martyred 
President to the company of the dead heroes of the Re- 
public, the nation stood so near the veil that the whispers 
of God were heard by the children of men. — Oratiofi on 
Liiicoln. 

I congratulate you on your leisure. I recommend 
you to keep it as your gold, as your wealth, as your 
means, out of which you win the leisure you have to 
think, the leisure you have to be let alone, the leisure you 
have to throw the plummet with your hand, and sound 
the depths and find out what is below ; the leisure you 
have to walk about the towers of yourselves, and find 
how strong they are, or how weak they are, and deter- 
mine what needs building up, and determine how to 
shape them, that you may make the final being that you 
are to be. Oh, those hours of building ! — Hiram Col- 
lege, July, 1880. 

The true literary man is no mere gleaner, following in 
the rear and gathering up the fragments of the world's 
thought ; but he goes down deep into the heart of hu- 
manity, watches its throbbings, analyzes the forces ai 
work there ; traces out, with prophetic foresight, their 
tendencies ; and thus, standing out far beyond his age, 
holds up the picture of what it is and is to be. — Essay 
in Williams' Quarterly, March, 1856. 



62 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Here society is a restless and surging sea. The roar 
of the billows, the dash of the wave, is forever in our 
ears. Even the angry hoarseness of breakers is not un- 
heard. But there is an understratum of deep, calm sea, 
which the breath of the wildest tempest can never reach. 
There is, deep down in the hearts of the American peo- 
ple, a strong and abiding love of our country and its 
liberty, which no surface-storms of passion can ever 
shake. That kind of instability which arises from a free 
movement and interchange of position among the mem- 
bers of society, which brings one drop up to glisten for a 
time in the crest of the highest wave, and then give 
place to another, while it goes down to mingle again 
with the millions below ; such instability is the surest 
pledge of permanence. On such instability the eternal 
fixedness of the universe is based. Each planet, in its 
circling orbit, returns to the goal of its departure, and on 
the balance of these wildly-rolling spheres God has 
planted the broad base of His mighty works. So the 
hope of our national perpetuity rests upon that perfect 
individual freedom which shall forever keep up the cir- 
cuit of perpetual change. — Address at Ravenna, July 4, 
i860. 

The fountain of our strength as a nation springs from 
the private life and the voluntary efforts of forty-five 
millions of people. Each for himself confronts the prob- 
lem of life, and amid its varied conditions develops the 
forces with which God has endowed him. Meantime the 
nation moves on in its great orbit with a life and destiny of 



IN HISTORY. 63 

its own, each year calling to its aid those qualities and 
forces which are needed for its preservation and its 
glory. Now it needs the prudence of the counsellor, now 
the wisdom of the law-giver, and now the shield of the 
warrior to cover its heart in battle. And when the hour 
and the man have met, and the needed work has been 
done, the nation crowns her heroes and makes them her 
own forever. — Oration on the Death of O. P. Morton. 

For the noblest man that lives there still remains a 
conflict. He must still withstand the assaults of time 
and fortune ; must still be assailed with temptations be- 
fore which lofty natures have fallen. But with these the 
conflict ended, the victory was won, when death stamped 
on them the great seal of heroic character, and closed a 
record which years can never blot. 

The view from this spot bears some resemblance to 
that which greets the eye at Rome. In sight of the 
Capitoline Hill, up and across the Tiber, and overlook- 
ing the city, is a hill, not rugged nor lofty, but known as 
the Vatican INIount. At the beginning of the Christian 
era an imperial circus stood on its summit. There glad- 
iator slaves died for the sport of Rome, and wild beasts 
fought with wilder men. In that arena a Galilean fish- 
erman gave up his life a sacrifice for his faith. No 
human life was ever so nobly avenged. On that spot 
was reared the proudest Christian temple ever built by 
human hands. For its adornment the rich offerings of 
every clime and kingdom had been contributed. And 



64 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

now, after eighteen centuries, the hearts of two hundred 
million people turn toward it with reverence when they 
worship God. As the traveller descends the Appenines 
he sees the dome of St. Peter rising above the desolate 
Campagna and the dead city, long before the Seven Hills 
and ruined palaces appear to his view. The fame of the 
dead fisherman has outlived the glory of the Eternal 
City. A noble life, crowned with heroic death, rises 
above and outlives the pride and pomp and glory of the 
mightiest empire of the earth. — Oration on Decorating the 
Graves of Union Soldiers at Arlington Heights, May 30, 
1868. 

Comparing these selections with those made 
from his speeches in Congress, we are met by 
contrast as well as resemblance. 

For, while a comparison reveals a common 
origin as to the underlying purpose and indwell- 
ing spirit of the ideas expressed, it also reveals 
a versatilit)' of intellectual power and a breadth 
of culture which we cannot emphasize too dis- 
tinctly in connection with the subject before us. 
Drawing the inspiration of his thoughts from a 
source higher than that of ordinary men, he 
passes easily and naturally from the excitement 
of the political arena to the tranquil mood of 
the scholar and thinker. 



IN HISTORY. 65 

In the one case we are impressed by a strong 
grasp of principles, a wonderful concentration 
of power, and a careful elimination of every- 
thing of a merely personal and transient nature. 
In the other case we are taught anew the im- 
portant lesson that while culture purifies and 
refines, it also widens the horizon of thought, 
and enables us to deal comprehensively and 
thoroughly with important questions. On the 
political side of life he showed himself to be a 
man of rare power, wonderful sagacity, excep- 
tional honesty, and sound judgment. 

On the intellectual side of his life he proved 
himself equally a man of unusual capacity and 
extraordinary growing power. Indeed, as we 
follow him throuo-h the various struesfles of his 
life, until at last he reaches the highest position 
which his countrymen could bestow upon him, 
we cannot help feeling that he was a man espe- 
cially well qualified to adorn the Presidential 
chair. Great as a far-seeing, wise, and prac- 
tical statesman, he was also great as a scholar, 
a thinker, and a lover of those finer shades of 
culture which lift us above our every-day, com- 
monplace views of life. In one sense the 



66 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

streneth and force of his character remind us of 
the forges of the C)'clops, where the thunder- 
bolts of Jove were fashioned. 

In another equally important sense the charm 
of his culture leads us to appreciate his charac- 
ter through the refining influence of the ideals 
that ennobled it. 

" Not with the mean and vulgar works of man, 
But with high objects, with enduring things — 
With life and nature — purifying thus 
The elements of feeling and of thought, 
And sanctifying, by such discipline, 
Both pain and fear, until we recognize 
A grandeur in the beatings of the heart." 

To properly understand him we must take 
into consideration both of these phases of his 
character. Indeed, they supplement and ex- 
plain each other. 

Of course, having been stricken down at the 
commencement of his Presidential term, it is 
impossible to say just what his administration 
would have been had he lived. Without a 
doubt he would have made mistakes and have 
failed in the accomplishment of many of his 
most cherished purposes. Infallibility may be 
conceded to the Pope of Rome by those who 



JN HISTORY. ^7 

Still cling for their intellectual and spiritual nour- 
ishment to the withered breasts of superstition. 
But for us who live, move, and have our being 
in the clear sunlight of reason, infallibility in 
either President or Pope is an impossibility. 
Without question, therefore, we may unhesitat- 
ingly admit that the probability of failure in 
many respects was as much a contingency un- 
der Garfield's administration as it would have 
been with any other President. The possibility 
of failure is not, however, a proof of failure ; and, 
therefore, we are not thereby precluded from 
pursuing the line which I propose to adopt. In 
what respects he would have failed, and in what 
respects he would have succeeded, must always 
remain an unanswered question. 

In the first act of the great drama the curtain 
has fallen, and the principal actor — slain by a 
fiend who in the enormity and hideousness of 
his crime makes even the Devil appear respect- 
able — sleeps silently in his grave. 

And pity, like a naked, new-born babe, 
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd 
Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, 
That tears shall drown the wind. 



68 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

In a measure the awful majesty of death im- 
poses silence upon us as to what might have 
been ; and, therefore, we ought, within proper 
limits, to obey the mandate, and avoid a vulgar 
profanation of those conditions where " silence 
is golden." Between a vulgar profanation and 
a loeical deduction there is, however, a wide 
difference. And thus it is that while we admit 
our inability to form an exact judgment as to 
what President Garfield's administration would 
have been, we are by no means prevented from 
estimating the probabilities from our knowledge 
of the man. In physics it is a pretty well es- 
tablished fact that we can safely predict a series 
of consequences, provided we are familiar with 
the nature of the causes on which the effects 
to be produced depend. And the same is true 
in the higher realm of human nature. Under 
both conditions the relation of an effect to its 
cause is equally real and indestructible. In 
dealing with the phenomena of wind we enter 
into a realm of forces more difficult to grasp 
and more subtle in tlicir character. But the 
principle remains the same whether we deal 
with the objects of the material world, or those 



IN HISTORY. 69 

higher conditions relating to human Hfe and 
experience. 

In the realm of human nature, as truly as in 
the physical universe, all things are governed by 
laws which, however much they may baffle 
and bewilder us at times, are, nevertheless, al- 
ways constant, sure, and unchangeable. It is 
true there will always be minor perturbing ele- 
ments entering into the complexity of mental 
phenomena and the intricate movements of char- 
acter which we cannot leave out of our esti- 
mate as to the probable course of any individual 
under given circumstances. The indestructible 
relations between cause and effect must always 
remain, but the exact consequences likely to 
ensue must necessarily depend somewhat upon 
conditions which we cannot always anticipate, 
or, indeed, cannot be expected to foresee. It 
is not to be supposed that we can predict with 
scientific accuracy what a man's future conduct 
will be, no matter how well we may know him. 
Under all circumstances there will always remain 
certain strange fluctuations of human nature 
which we cannot account for, and which elude 
the possibility of scientific analysis. Scientific 



^0 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

accuracy is, however, one thing ; approximate 
correctness quite another. In our estimate of 
men and their actions we may not be able to 
attain the one ; but if our premises are correct 
we certainly can attain the other. And in view 
of this fact it seems to me we can estimate with 
a reasonable certainty, sufficient for our pur- 
poses, what the course of President Garfield 
would have been, had he not been suddenly 
taken from us. 

A character such as I have attempted to de- 
scribe in these pages is not the result of acci- 
dent, neither is it the product of forces lying so 
near the surface that any passing breeze can 
scatter and dissipate them. Instead of this its 
roots strike deep down into the soil, and as it 
stretches its branches heavenward it is not un- 
like the majestic oak in its strong and enduring 
qualities. 

There are some men whose characters are so 
fluctuating and instable that we cannot count 
on their actions twenty-four hours in advance. 
Being without any will power or settled pur- 
pose of their own, they are carried here, there, 
and everywhere, according to the dominating 



IN HISTORY. 71 

influence of the moment. As a rule, they 
mean well enough, but they are so utterly de- 
void of dynamic force that helplessness and 
inanity seem to be their natural conditions. 
But to this class of weak and irresolute char- 
acters Garfield certainly did not belong. On 
the contrary, his whole career is marked by a 
constancy of purpose and concentration of ef- 
fort which a weak nature could not possibly 
possess. Steadily and persistently he kept be- 
fore himself a high ideal ; and as he rises, by 
the force of his character, gradually superior to 
each fresh difficulty, we feel the presence of a 
steady indomitable energy capable of rising 
higher and yet higher in the scale of progress. 
In his case character reveals itself in its true 
light as a deep, spiritual force struggling 
against those limitations which every true man 
feels as he strives to reach the goal of a harmo- 
nious and well-rounded culture. 

As we study him closely and follow him all 
along the line of his development, the conclu- 
sion is irresistible that in addition to his being 
a man of very remarkable ability, he also 
cauofht the true meaning: of life, and in the still- 



72 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

ness of his meditative nature seems never to 
have lost "the consciousness of proximity to a 
hfc in the universe vaster than ours, whose cir- 
cles involve but sweep beyond us, melodious, 
ethereal, and without limitation." Intensely 
practical in the direction of his public duties, 
his inner life seems to have been pervaded by 
lofty aspirations, lifting him above the insipid 
and dreary flatness of a mere routine politician. 
In the contemplation of his life we rise above 
the " stale, flat, and unprofitable " character of 
most of our public men. In the study of a life 
so grand, noble, and useful as Garfield's, we pass 
beyond 

The long, mechanic pacings to and fro, 
The set gray life, and apathetic end ; 

and instead find ourselves face to face with a 
freshness of thought and purity of feeling fully 
warranting us in the conclusion that he 

— by the vision splendid. 
Is on his way attended. 

I know that it is the custom of the world to 
undervalue the sublime forces which great men 



IN HISTORY. 73 

accumulate in their moments of contemplation 
and spiritual ecstasy. But the fact remains that 
it is precisely these forces which drive the world 
forward in the direction of real progress and 
improvement. 

Progress, with nations as with individuals, 
depends very largely on our estimate of life and 
our appreciation of the conditions by which we 
are surrounded. 

To some extent we are necessarily influenced 
by cosmic conditions and the nature of our en- 
vironment ; but besides these there are higher 
forces impelling us forward, according as we 
learn the value of man's intellectual and moral 
possibilities, and the sweet serenity of a con- 
science attuned to the finer harmonies of the 
universe. 

The great progressive forces of the world take 
their rise, not in the flat-lands of commonplace- 
ness and inertness, but in those mountain-tops 
of intellectual and spiritual activity where the 
mind is constantly stimulated toward fresh ex- 
ertion, and the moral nature is purified and 
strengthened by the refining influences of cul- 
ture and a proper appreciation of the aims and 



74 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

purposes of life. Of course, the industrial and 
scientific character of the age determine very 
largely the extent of our progress. But, after 
all, it is from the heights of intellectual acli\"ity 
and moral crrandeur that we must measure our 
real position. 

Here we reach a criterion by means of which 
we can safely and surely estimate the real value 
of our attainments and the intrinsic quality of 
our life and character. 

Judged by this standard, Garfield was un- 
doubtedly a great man, and deserving a place 
in history beside other great men who have 
consecrated their lives to the true, the beautiful, 
and good. 

In addition to the fact that he embodied, 
more distinctly than any other public man of 
our time, the higher aims and uses of our insti- 
tutions, he carried into his political life the ad- 
ditional charm of a broad culture which enabled 
him to enjoy that quiet reflection which, in his 
own words, "is so necessary to keep up a 
growth and vigor of Christian character." 

Instead of following the po[)ular idea that suc- 
cess in political life depends principally upon 



IN HISTORY. 75 

• 

Utter indifference to every thing except wire- 
pulling and shrewd management, he has fur- 
nished us conclusive evidence that a man may 
be successful in public life, and yet preserve his 
finer tastes and feelings. 

In this connection it is painfully true that his 
death was due, in a measure, to his well-known 
antagonism to that form of our political life 
which represents the grosser spirit of party 
power and party dictation. But because there 
existed a man in the country vile enough to slay 
one so pure and good, in the name of stalwart- 
ism, it does not follow that the example of a 
life consecrated to noble purposes is therefore a 
failure. Had Garfield lived there is no doubt 
whatever but that the movement in favor of 
Civil-Service Reform would have been very 
materially aided by him. He knew perfecdy 
well that the Augean stables required cleansing, 
and we have good reason for believing that he 
meant to undertake the Herculean task. In his 
inaugural address we find him alluding to the 
subject in the following remarks, thereby indi- 
cating plainly what his course on this important 
question would have been. 



76 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory 
basis until it is regulated by law. For the good of the 
service itself, for the protection of those who are en- 
trusted with the appointing power against the waste of 
time and obstruction to the public business caused by 
the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection 
of incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at the 
proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor 
offices of the several executive departments and prescribe 
the grounds upon which removals shall be made during 
terms for which incumbents have been appointed. 

Indeed, so strong and well settled were his 
views on tliis subject that we find him express- 
ing himself in unmistakable terms more than 
four years ago. 

To reform this service is one of the highest and most 
imperative duties of statesmanship. This reform cannot 
be accomplished without a complete divorce between 
Congress and the Executive in the matter of appoint- 
ments. It will be a proud day when an administration 
Senator or Representative, who is in good standing in his 
party, can say as Thomas Hughes said, during his recent 
visit to this country, that though he was on the most inti- 
mate terms with the members of his own administration, 
yet it was not in his power to secure the removal of the 
humblest clerk in the civil service of his government. 

This is not the occasion to discuss the recent enlarge- 
ment of the jurisdiction of Congress in reference to ihe 



IN HISTORY. 77 

election of a President and Vice-President by the States. 
But it cannot be denied that the electoral bill has spread 
a wide and dangerous field for Congressional action. Un- 
less the boundaries of its power shall be restricted by a 
new amendment of the Constitution, we have seen the 
last of our elections of President on the old plan. The 
power to decide who has been elected may be so used 
as to exceed the power of electing. 

I have long believed that the of^cial relations be- 
tween the Executive and Congress should be more open 
and direct. They are now conducted by correspon- 
dence with the presiding officers of the two Houses, 
by consultation with committees, or by private inter- 
views with individual members. This frequently leads 
to misunderstandings, and may lead to corrupt combina- 
tions. It would be far better for both departments if 
the members of the Cabinet were permitted to sit in 
Congress and participate in the debates on measures re- 
lating to their several departments, but, of course, 
without a vote. This would tend to secure the ablest 
men for the chief executive offices ; it would bring the 
policy of the administration into the fullest publicity by 
giving both parties ample opportunity for criticism and 
defence. — Atlantic Monthly, yuly, 1877. 

Keeping in mind the character of the man and 
his well-known firmness in dealing with impor- 
tant questions, there can be no doubt that the 
allusion to Civil- Service Reform in his inau- 



78 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

gural address was to many the death-knell of 
their hopes and their unscrupulous bargainings 
and calculations. The reference to this subject 
in his inaugural address was a ray of promise to 
those who wish their country well, but it was a 
dark shadow eclipsing all their hopes to those 
who thrive best when corruption and unscrupu- 
lousness are most rampant. In fact, so decided 
were the views of President Garfield in this di- 
rection, that it is perfectly true to say that the 
most fittinof monument which we can erect to 
his memory is to carry forward the work of 
Civil- Service Reform with becoming energy and 
steadfastness of purpose. Remembering the 
truth of his own words, that " unsettled ques- 
tions have no pity for the repose of nations," let 
us bravely press forward in the commendable 
effort to rid our political life of one of its most 
monstrous evils and its greatest danger. 

I know that in certain quarters Civil-Service 
Reform is looked upon merely as a Utopian 
idea, but this only furnishes additional reason for 
carrying forward the good work to which Pres- 
ident Garfield would have lent his powerful aid, 
had he lived. In this respect the general in- 



IN HISTORY. 79 

credulity can be fairly taken as a sure guide to 
the low standard of morality underlying our 
political life. And as such it demands our most 
serious attention. If, whether from indifference 
or moral obliquity, we have allowed our politi- 
cal life to become saturated with dishonesty and 
corruption, derived from the debasing rule of 
the machine, it is high time that we cast off the 
incubus which has hitherto depressed and stifled 
us. In our national, as in our individual life, 
we need pure air and a free exercise of our 
functions in order to enjoy good health. In 
both instances the suspension of activity means 
the diminution of our vital powers. In the one 
case, as in the other, continued disuse is very 
apt to become permanent disability, and a tem- 
porary bodily ailment, unnoticed, to become a 
chronic malady. 

In the larger life of the nation, as in the 
smaller life of the individual, the conditions are 
precisely the same ; and a disregard of hygi- 
enic laws sure to be followed by its inevitable 
consequences. And in view of this fact, the 
loss of a statesman as well skilled as President 
Garfield was in the science of government, is, 



So GARFIELD'S PLACE 

indeed, a national calamity which we cannot too 
deeply deplore. Even if w^e estimate him by 
what he was as a statesman, rather than by 
what he promised as a President, it is strictly 
true that at least for some time " we shall not 
look upon his like again." Expressing in the 
highest sense the possibilities of American citi- 
zenship, he also embodied in his life those 
higher qualities of mind and character which 
defy the ravages of time, and live on through 
the aees forever fresh in the charm of their ce- 
lestial beauty. 

Had he lived in a pre-Christian age, the im- 
partial historian might have found it difficult to 
harmonize his well-known qualities of sympathy 
and tenderness with the stronger qualities which 
are inseparable from greatness and strength of 
character. But in our da)- we are met by no 
such difficulty. Owing to the change produced 
by Christianity on the character of the world's 
ideals, we are now able to estimate at their 
proper value those finer shades of thought and 
feelincr which did not enter into the forms of 
civilization that existed prior to the conquest of 
the world by the gentle Nazarene. With the 



IN HISTORY. 8 1 

triumph of Christianity the world took a new de- 
parture, and in the change of ideas which fol- 
lowed, the ideal based on the heroic qualities of 
Greece and Rome gave place to the benign in- 
fluences of a relifjion which teaches that he is 
the greatest conqueror who succeeds most ef- 
fectually in binding the human race together 
with the golden chain of love. By means of 
Christian agencies the world has gradually been 
becoming more and more subject to those influ- 
ences which emanate from the gentler elements 
of our nature ; and, as a consequence, it is not 
to be wondered at that a man of Garfield's type 
should have tender feelings as well as a strong 
character. 

In antiquity, the virtues that were most 
admired were almost exclusively those which 
are distinctively masculine. 

Pagan sentiment was mainly a glorification of 
the masculine qualities of courage, endurance, 
and patriotism ; whereas Christian sentiment 
has always been a glorification of the qualities of 
weakness, gentleness, patience, humility, resig- 
nation, and love. 

Under these humanizing conditions, drawn 



82 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

from the distinctive excellence of the Christian 
ideal, Garfield's character was formed and de- 
veloped ; and, therefore, it is not surprising that 
we find him expressing in his life the gentle in- 
fluences of Christianity as well as force of intel- 
lect and strength of purpose. Not unlike 
Marcus Aurelius in the breadth of his philoso- 
phy, his moral robustness, his evenly balanced 
mind, and his appreciation of conscious virtue, 
he exceeded the Roman emperor in the large- 
ness of his sympathies and the fine fragrance 
of that Christian atmosphere by which he was 
surrounded. 

For him the term humanity possessed a 
meaning wholly unknown to the great Stoic. 
In the depth and earnestness of his meditations, 
and in the purity of his character, Marcus Au- 
relius presents a picture which is indeed truly 
grand and ennobling. So noble, indeed, was 
his character, that it is not surprising to find 
that all those whose means permitted it pos- 
sessed themselves of his statues, and that they 
were to be seen years afterward among the 
household irods of heathen families, who felt 
themselves more hopeful and more happy from 



IN HISTORY. 83 

the glorious sense of possibility which was in- 
spired by the memory of one who, in the midst 
of difficulties, and breathing an atmosphere 
heavy with corruption, yet showed himself so 
wise, so great, so good a man. 

In the case of Marcus Aurelius we watch 
philosopy in some of its loftiest flights, and as 
that flight rises as far above the rano-e of the 
pagan populace as Ida or Olympus rises above 
the plain, we cannot but feel that we have been 
contemplating one of the greatest men that the 
world has ever produced. And yet even after 
we have realized this, we are still of the opinion 
that there is a greater attractiveness and power 
for good in the beautiful Christian heroism of 
Garfield. In Marcus Aurelius there was a depth 
and intensity of sadness which showed how 
powerless his philosophy was to sustain him in 
his moments of profoundest thought and deep- 
est meditation. 

In the case of Garfield, the intellectual pene- 
tration was perhaps less keen, and the philo- 
sophical cast of mind less dominant and control- 
ling ; but the sweet experiences based on 
feelings " too deep for tears" are certainly more 



84 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

than compensation for any difference in intel- 
lectual acumen and philosophical penetration. 
Better be Garfield sustained by Christian hope 
and filial trust, than Marcus Aurelius dis- 
heartened by a philosophy which glorified sui- 
cide and knew nothing of those exquisitely 
beautiful shades of feeling which play around 
the consciousness of an earnest Christian 
thinker. 

And this brings us to a recognition of the 
important fact that without Christianity Garfield 
would have been impossible. Without in any 
way obtruding himself as a representative of 
Christianity, his whole life furnishes an excel- 
lent example of what a man can accomplish pro- 
vided he follows the dictates of his better nature, 
governed and directed by the spiritualizing in- 
fluences of Christianity. As Taine has said of 
Milton, so may we say of Garfield: "Against 
external fluctuations he found a refuge in him- 
self; and the ideal city which he had built in 
his soul endured, impregnable to all assaults. 
It was too beautiful, this inner city, for him to 
leave it ; it was too solid to be destroyed." 
In the movement of his emotions, as in the 



IN HISTORY. 85 

general drift of his character, he seems to have 
contented himself with dwelling in this beautiful 
ideal city, resolved that no unclean thing should 
enter in to defile it. 

But it will not do to stop here, and thus leave 
out of our estimate several considerations which 
are essential to a proper understanding of our 
subject. In Garfield's case, as in that of every 
man who attains unusual eminence in spite of 
adverse circumstances, we can only treat the 
matter intelligently when we bear in mind cer- 
tain deeply seated conditions which, though 
everywhere present, are only occasionally man- 
ifested through some specially adapted charac- 
ter by means of whom they can be brought 
into actual life. I will not go so far as those 
scientific writers who claim that could we ob- 
serve the processes of nature, we should need 
no science to explain them. But I will say, 
without in the least disparaging individual effort, 
that there are certain unseen forces sweeping 
through the ages in obedience to fixed laws, 
and producing at the right time exceptional 
characters for exceptional purposes. It may be 
true that we cannot subject these forces to scien- 



86 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

tific analysis, or count upon their movements 
with mathematical certainty ; it may even be 
true that we cannot, strictly speaking, observe 
them, or at least that we can only know them 
in fraements rather than as a whole ; but the 
certainty of their existence remains nevertheless. 
It has been truthfully remarked that "science is 
fertile, not because it is a tank, but because it is 
a spring," 

The grandest discoveries and the grandest 
applications to practice have not only out- 
stripped the slow march of observation, but 
have revealed by the telescope of imagination 
what the microscope of observation could never 
have seen, although it may afterward be em- 
ployed to verify the vision. Certain facts are 
observed to co-exist, or to succeed each other, 
but the process of their connection is hidden, 
and we seek to drag into the light the facts 
which come between the facts which are seen. 

And the same is true, only in a greater de- 
gree, of the conditions governing the life of na- 
tions and the onward march of events. Be- 
wildered we may be by the complexity of the 
phenomena with which we have to deal ; baf- 



IN HISTORY. 87 

fled we may be in our attempts to construct a 
science of history. But notwithstanding this, 
we are still warranted in holding to the convic- 
tion that in the realm of human affairs, as in 
the world of nature, there are always present 
certain broad governing conditions which we 
cannot escape from, and which we cannot de- 
stroy if we would. In drawing our conclusions 
and forming our generalizations we may fre- 
quently have to fall back on hypothesis, but 
even in this respect we are no worse off than 
the scientific investigator who is compelled at 
times to resort to " indirect vision " as a means 
of making an imaginative arch thrown over the 
gap which we may traverse as a bridge. Of 
course, in both instances it is manifesdy true 
that unless this rests on solid supports it will 
not bear our weight ; and many a visionary hy- 
pothesis will turn out to be no better than the 
arch of the rainbow, beautiful to look upon, but 
impossible to walk upon. Clearly enough it is 
our duty to see that we are not misled by 
hasty conclusions or sweeping generalizations, 
having no warrant in the nature of things and 
no foundation in the experience of history. But 



88 GARFTELD S PLACE 

having satisfied ourselves that we have laid our 
foundations on solid ground, we are fully war- 
ranted in applying to large and important ques- 
tions those broad and comprehensive views 
which a close study of history leads us to 
adopt. 

And in this connection it does not seem too 
much to say that a thoughtful observation of 
certain phases in our history will warrant the 
conclusion that if ever there was a nation whose 
destiny was shaped by these unseen but mighty 
forces, it is ours. Coming into existence under 
conditions which marked a new epoch in the 
world's history, we have had frequent occasion, 
since the time of our birth, to ponder with 
thankful hearts the guiding power of a hand 
which we could not see, but whose directing in- 
fluence we could distinctly feel. It would, per- 
haps, be the most unpardonable and shallow 
egotism ox\ our part to suppose that we are a 
favored nation in this respect. But it is not 
mere conceit in us to feel that we have a per- 
fect right to look in our experience for the pres- 
ence of those great laws which have been 
speaking in more or less audible tones all 



IN HISTORY. 89 

through the past ages of the world. Nor is it 
too much to say that the more diligently we 
search, the more clearly will we discover their 
presence in the gradual development of our 
country from its incipient stages to the present 
day. And thus we come to the cardinal f^ct 
that in forming our estimate of Garfield's place 
in .history, we must never lose sight of those 
underlying conditions which forced him to the 
surface as the natural and beautiful product of 
our institutions, — the fair blossom of modern 
civilization, but especially the glory of our 
country. 

In his individual character he was great, noble, 
and pure. As a representative of what is pos- 
sible under a free government like ours, he was 
an illustrious example of the power and beauty 
of the finer elements of our national life. Illus- 
trating to a wonderful degree the efficacy of 
brave resolutions and persistency of purpose, he 
also gave us a clearer insight, than we have be- 
fore had, into certain potentialities embedded in 
our national consciousness. In all respects he 
was a rare example of a true and noble man- 
hood, moving ever onward and upward in his 



90 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

attainments and his aspirations. But we shall 
have only half learned the lesson of his life if 
we do not also remember that he has raised the 
standard of our national ideal, and revealed anew 
the supreme fact that character is the only thing 
in this wide universe which outlives the shocks 
of time, the changes of fortune, and the slow 
process of decay which is everywhere present. 
As time rolls on the pathos of his death may 
lose some of its influence ; but come what may, 
he has earned for himself a crown which neither 
time, nor change, nor envy, nor malice can take 
from him. 

By what he promised, rather than by what he 
accomplished, his position as President must be 
decided. This point candid and impartial criti- 
cism compels us to concede. But having made 
this admission, the position which I claim for 
him is not impaired. In his case the man was 
greater than the office. Owing to the grand 
qualities of his character, his office adorned him 
less than he adorned his office. As the free 
gift of tlic nation, the position necessarily car- 
ried with it very proper feelings of pride which 
had he not felt he would have been unworthy 



IN HISTORY. 9 1 

of the position and its attendant honor. But 
because he was intrinsically great no extrinsic 
conditions could either take from or add to the 
measure of his stature. 

We admire him for the force of character 
which placed him in the Presidential chair. 
But above all things we revere his memory be- 
cause by the purity of his life, and the glorious 
example of his death, he has left us a heritage 
which elevates and purifies us as individuals, 
while it also gives a new impetus to the higher 
forces of our national life. 

Unconsciously he has started anew those 
streams of fresh and purifying energy, which, 
havino- made him what he was, bid fair to lead 
us forward and upward in the development of 
our higher possibilities. Like Washington and 
Lincoln, he will always be associated with an 
important stage in our history. But unlike 
them, his fame rests not upon the glory of being 
victorious in war, but upon the victories of peace, 
accompanied by new forces generated by the 
example of his life and the touching beauty of 
his heroic death. Having embodied in his life 
those finer shades of thought and feeling which 



92 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

give to noble lives their sublimity and impor- 
tance, he has indeed left us poorer for his loss. 
But he has at the same time left us richer for 
the circle of those influences which, emanating 
from his grave, shall radiate more and more 
through the coming time by virtue of the in- 
destructibility of the forces of which they are 
composed. The heavens and the earth may 
pass away, but the foundations of a character 
such as Garfield's are eternal in their nature 
and immortal in their usefulness and beauty. 
Like all things pertaining to this sublunar 
sphere, his fame will necessarily be subject to 
those alternations and fluctuations which are in- 
separable from the variableness of human opin- 
ion. But even after we have made every al- 
lowance in this direction, it is not too much to 
say that his memory will always be dear to his 
countrymen, and the music of his life be a 
grand inspiring strain, calling us from our 
baser appetites and passions, and giving us a 
deeper faith in the possibilities of human nature. 
Carrying the fine enthusiasm of his moral na- 
ture into his political career, he has made for 
himself a position in our history which is unique. 



IN HISTORY. 93 

Carrying into his individual life the charm of a 
well-rounded culture, made still more beautiful 
by his purity, gendeness, and humility, he has 
encouraged us by the beauty of his example 
and the purity of the influences which he leaves 
behind him. 

In regard to those deep, underlying forces to 
which I have alluded as the governing conditions 
of national life, it may be true that we sometimes 
talk foolishly of the necessities of things, and 
thus become the victims of a crushing fatalism. 

But it is equally true that amid the ever- vary-/ 
ing phenomena of life there are always present 
certain underlying principles and governing 
conditions, which take their rise in sources very 
much hieher than the realm of human causes. It 
may even be true that as we turn the pages of 
history and note how generation after generation 
has passed by and disappeared, we are saddened 
by the feeling that life is largely one long suc- 
cession of buried hopes and unrealized dreams. 

True enough it is that 

Every thing that grows 

Holds in perfection but a little moment, 
And this huge State presenteth naught but shows, 

Whereon the stars in silent influence comment. 



94 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

All this is undoubtedly true ; and yet there is 
a principle of immortality pervading all, and 
giving a new meaning to the trials, the strug- 
gles, and the disappointments which history 
reveals. Individuals pass away, empires and 
commonwealths rise and fall, but the broad re- 
sults of human action as they reach from century 
to century are the expressions of an everlasting 
law which can neither be chanored nor de- 
stroyed. The republics of Greece and Rome, 
once strong forces in the world's history, are no 
more. The Venetian republic, after lasting 
over thirteen hundred years, at last expired be- 
neath the invasion of Napoleon in 1797. Dis- 
integrating forces, corrupt influences, and the 
spirit of intrigue and persecution had under- 
mined her strength, and consequently the re- 
public had no power to resist the invading 
army. "The more dangerous enemy is inside 
our walls," said the councillors of the Doge in 
that memorable May of 1797, which witnessed 
the downfall of the oldest republic in the world ; 
and as we catch the echo of these words after 
the lapse of nearly a hundred years, they have 
a meaning for us which it will be well to 



IN HISTORY. 95 

ponder. The monuments of the ancient glory 
of this once fair repubHc are still the admiration 
of the civilized world, but the indwelling life and 
spirit which gave them their original meaning 
have passed away. As the beautiful "Queen 
of the Adriatic," Venice still exercises a potent 
sway over the mind of the traveller who for the 
first time wanders among her churches or 
glides along her canals. The beautiful '" Queen 
of the Adriatic," preserving the indefinable 
grace of things Italian, she still remains. 

But in the loss of her ancient power we have 
a striking ill-ustration of the presence of those 
laws which Nemesis-like move throucrh the 
ages, avenging all violations of the principles of 
justice and virtue. Nor is the lesson of the rise 
and fall of these ancient republics without its 
usefulness to us. 

It is perfectly true that the conditions of our 
national life are in many respects much more 
favorable than the conditions which prevailed 
with earlier republics ; but this fact does not in 
any way exempt us from the inexorable rela- 
tions between cause and effect, nor does it give 
us immunity from danger. Although we are 



9^ GARFIELD'S PLACE 

hundreds of years apart from Greece, Rome, 
and Venice in point of historical position, the 
conditions of progress and national healthful- 
ness are the same with us that they were with 
them. Time and space may change the config- 
uration of the earth, produce new cosmic con- 
ditions, or alter the general character of our 
surroundings ; but over the everlasting laws 
separating right from wrong, and distinguishing 
virtue from vice, neither time nor space, nor 
even eternity itself, can have the slightest power. 
In the constitution of the universe these condi- 
tions arc fixed facts, and as such can neither 
be destroyed, suspended, nor evaded. Taking 
their rise in the nature of those hifrher forces 
by which the stream of human life is controlled 
and directed, they apply to all nations alike. 
They are not in any sense spasmodic or fluc- 
tuating in their action, but like the unswerving 
purpose which they obey and represent, theirs 
is indeed a steady, solemn march, embracing 
the sweep of the centuries, and meting out to 
nations and individuals the measure of their re- 
ward or punishment. 

And so it is that in estimating our future, 



IN HISTORY. 97 

while we cannot tell what awaits us, we cer- 
tainly know how much depends upon our prop- 
erly appreciating- and preserving those noble 
qualities which actuated Garfield in life, and 
which, now that he is dead, glorify his name> 
and give to his memory a fragrance and a 
beauty beside which the richest and empty 
honors of the world appear worthless and 
insignificant. 

Silently he sleeps his last sleep in his grave 
at Cleveland ; but above the silence and awful 
majesty of death there arises a sweet and gentle 
influence which pleads with us to be nobler, 
better, and purer. 

A great man has been cruelly snatched from 
us when we apparently needed him most. And 
yet, as we linger over the story of his life, and 
catch the fine enthusiasm of his lofty nature, we 
can proudly point to his character as a glorious 
edifice, not made with hands, but beautiful in 
its harmonious proportions, its massive grand- 
eur, and its o-raceful combination of streno-th 
and repose. 

There is a sense in which the empire of the 
dead is greater than the empire of the living. 



9^ GARFIELD'S PLACE 

And perhaps there never was an instance in which 
this was more fully illustrated than in the mar- 
vellous range of influences which the death of 
our late President produced upon the world, 
and which, without any exaggeration, have re- 
vived our faith in human nature, and enlarged 
and ennobled our views of life. 

In claiming this exalted position for Garfield, 
I am aware how readily some persons will 
argue that it is impossible at this early day to 
properly define his place in history, while others 
will probably endeavor to point out the per- 
nicious consequences of every thing approaching 
hero-worship. 

To the first of these I can only say that, 
while there are certain advantages to be derived 
from the disenchanting and searching processes 
of time, there are also many advantages in favor 
of that warm and living appreciation which time 
is apt to diminish. 

Notwithstanding his many advantages in the 
way of accumulated evidence and retrospective 
estimate, it is undeniable that the historian who 
writes purely under the stimulus of a cold in- 
tellectual analysis, is very apt to pass over those 



IN HISTORY. 99 

finer shades of character which are best appre- 
ciated under a close and real sympathy with the 
subject under discussion. The indwelling life 
and spirit of the man, which nearness enables us 
to understand and appreciate, are very apt to 
become, through the lapse of time, like " Os- 
sian's ghosts, in hazy twilight, with stars dim 
twinklinof throuQ^h their forms." 

The calm, dispassionate view of the historian 
who writes in a purely judicial spirit, has cer- 
tainly many points in its favor ; and in this way 
the verdict of posterity is not always the same 
as the verdict of contemporary writers. But in 
admitting this, it must not be forgotten that the 
estimate of a man's own time, though not al- 
ways reliable, is quite as likely to be correct as 
the verdict of posterity. If the one has the ad- 
vantage of the searching, analytical power of 
distance and impartiality, the other certainly has 
the advantage of that insight and appreciation 
which nearness to the life and character of the 
man alone can give. At best we only half un- 
derstand the characters of those by whom we 
are daily surrounded. And this difficulty of 
perception necessarily increases as the objects 



lOO GARFIELD'S PLACE 

of our Study recede from our view, and time and 
distance make living- realities appear " pale, 
thin, and ineffectual. " We would recall and 
sensibly bring back the past, that we might look 
into it and scrutinize it at will I " But, alas ! in 
nature there is no such conjuring ; the great 
spirits that have gone before us can survive 
only as disembodied voices ; their form and dis- 
tinctive aspect, outward and even in many re- 
spects inward, all whereby they were known as 
living, breathing men, has passed into another 
sphere, from which only history, in scanty 
memorials, can evoke some faint resemblance 
of it." 

From the most brilliant page of history we 
only get a faint oudine of an indwelling person- 
ality which is for the most part so hidden be- 
hind confused and conflicting phenomena as to 
be at best a poor substitute for the original. 
Indeed, there is a sense in which history, how- 
ever well written, must always fail to be human 
history. It may successfully recite facts and 
give a tolerably correct account of the scenes 
and incidents described. But it never has, and 
never can, give an insight into the living forces 
which underlie the formation of character. 



IN HISTORY. 10 1 

In the light of history, as it is usually written, 
" we have a leaf or two torn from the great 
book of human fate as it flutters in the storm- 
winds ever sweeping across the earth. We de- 
cipher them as best we can with purblind eyes, 
and endeavor to learn their mystery as we float 
along the abyss ; but it is all confused babble, — 
hieroglyphics of which the key is lost." A 
faint and shadowy apparition takes the place 
of the living reality, and in the change much 
that is valuable and essential is necessarily lost 
and obliterated. And thus it is that while we 
admit the legitimate function of history to be 
a very important one, we must also remember 
that the treatment of a character such as Gar- 
field's o-ains rather than loses by nearness of 
sympathy and warmth of appreciation. It is 
just possible that future historians will, through 
the lenses of cold intellectual examination, dis- 
cover weaknesses which are not apparent to the 
present writer. But be this as it may, it is at 
least a fitting tribute to the memory of a noble 
man to dwell with affectionate appreciation over 
the story of his life, the heroism of his struggles, 
and the grandeur of his victory ; — a life indeed. 



I02 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells 
Where light and shade repose, where music dwells 
Lingering, and wandering on as loth to die — 
Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof 
That they were born for immortality. 

In regard to the second objection to which I 
have alluded, I would reply that hero-worship, 
properly defined, is a very excellent counterac- 
tive force against the degenerating tendencies 
of the present age. Undoubtedly there is a 
sense in which hero-worship is injurious and 
objectionable. But there is also a sense in 
which it is both elevating and desirable. For 
instance, when Carlyle, speaking of the man 
who is entitled to be worshipped, says : " He is' 
above thee like a god, he is thy born king, thy 
conqueror and supreme law-giver," he obviously 
exaggerates his subject, and leads to a worship 
which is virtually idolatrous. Even in his ex- 
aggeration he expresses a partial truth, but be- 
cause he makes it appear too exclusively a 
merit to be born with the most powerful brain 
of the age, he does injustice to the nobleness of 
common men, and thus saps the foundations on 
which all true greatness necessarily rests. 



IN HISTORY. 103 

In speaking- of great men it is undeniably an 
exaeeeration to say that " He walks among 
men ; loves men with inexpressible soft pity — 
as they cannot love him ; but his soul dwells in 
solitude, in the uttermost parts of creation. In 
green oases by the palm-tree wells, he rests a 
space ; but anon he has to journey forward, es- 
corted by the terrors and splendors, the arch- 
demons and archangels. All heaven, all pan- 
demonium, are his escort. The stars, keen- 
o-lancine from the immensities, send tidings to 
him ; the graves, silent with their dead, from 
the eternities. Deep calls for him unto deep." 
Clearly this is an exaggerated view of hero- 
worship which is, in some respects, objection- 
able. But it is not an exaggeration, in the 
treatment of our present subject, to say that 
amone the crowd of our uncultivated and mis- 
cultivated public men, the pure and noble Gar- 
field stands before us worthy of our admiration, 
our love, and our affectionate remembrance. 

In his case intellectual strength was accom- 
panied by moral excellence. If ever any one 
realized that a man of splendid endowment is 
a lio-ht set on a hill, and that for a man to be 



I04 GARFIELD'S PLACE 

really great, exceptionable ability must go hand 
in hand with purity of life and beauty of char- 
acter, he certainly did. Other great men there 
have been who have come nearer to Carlyle's 
.hero " escorted by the terrors and splendors, 
the archdemons and archangels " ; but in the 
well-rounded completeness of his life, and the 
humanizing quality of the inHuences which he 
has left behind him, Garfield occupies a posi- 
tion hitrher than those intellectual iriants who, 
notwithstandinof their Titanic strens^th, did not 
attain that nobler heroism which makes of life 
one orrand sublime effort in the cause of virtue 
and self-conquest. 

Loving wisdom much, he loved virtue more. 
And thus it is, as we close the study of his life, 
we are fully warranted in claiming that he was 
one of the few o-reat men who have left the 
world nobler, richer, and better for having lived 
in it. 



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